


Take Me To Heaven When You Go (Hercules AU)

by hausofornacia



Category: RuPaul's Drag Race RPF
Genre: M/M, angsty gay goddesses, the greeks were gay so it works
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-06-10
Updated: 2018-08-06
Packaged: 2019-05-20 12:00:19
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 22,814
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14894255
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hausofornacia/pseuds/hausofornacia
Summary: On the last day of Max's vacation, he encounters a man who he's sure is an angel, only it's Giovanni, a man who sold his soul to the goddess of the underworld. When they realize that meeting wasn't just a coincidence, they attempt to defy The Fates and be more than star-crossed lovers.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I don't own the characters or the film Hercules. Also, due to this involving drag, characters will use female pronouns in drag and male when out unless the queens identify differently.
> 
> If you want to read this on Tumblr, go to whos-ornacia (that's me!) and look up the tag "take me to heaven" :)

At first he couldn’t believe his eyes, but after 5 minutes of internal dialogue that consisted of trying to figure out if he was dreaming, Max was convinced he’d seen an angel.

The dialogue started when he was staring at the sun on the horizon from his balcony, how the star turned his view various shades of orange. From there his mind trailed off to think of his mother. He always thought of her when the sun rose - how she captured color better than anyone he knew, even artists with their own galleries back home. He was just about to capture a picture on his phone for her when out of the corner of his eyes, he saw a glimpse of white light, which prompted him to look to his left and hope that light wasn’t a signal for his death.

The light Max had seen was actually a shirtless man, practically radiating because his skin resembled the color of marble sculptures he used to study. His frame was almost too small for the blue gym shorts hanging off of his hips, but he strode across the beach with confidence, like he didn’t care that in a few hours, hundreds of tanned bodies with curves and muscles would occupy the sand he was standing on, and this moment would only be a memory. He knew he looked different, and that was alright for both himself and the man unbeknownst to him admiring from afar.

His hair was jet black and coiffed at the top of his head, but the hair on the sides was likely due for a haircut. Something that looked like a cigarette was stuck in between his lips, and he stopped for a moment to reach in his pocket for something, probably a lighter. That’s when it occurred to Maxwell: _hey, I have a real camera,_ and before he could stop himself he ran to the dresser in the hotel room, where his camera bag held his camera with the lens still on it. He reached for it quickly, putting the strap around his neck before running back to the balcony. The man was still there, cigarette in his mouth, smoke billowing out of his lips. From his profile, Maxwell was convinced the man really was a marble statue come to life. The only thing peculiar about him was that from his vantage point, it looked like his eyebrows were completely shaved off, and when he seemed deep in thought, the skin where his eyebrows would be furrowed. Max laughed to himself as he turned on the camera and removed the lens cap, placing it on the balcony railing. After lowering himself to sit on the floor with his knees, he set the camera’s focus on the horizon, still painted the colors of marigolds, and that’s when the picture looked perfect. The man looked like a figure of darkness compared the how the sun shined behind him, and he was in the middle of another drag on his cigarette. Max held the capture button and got what seemed like 20 pictures while he moved to various positions, at one point laying flat on the floor to get more of the man in frame. Once Max set the focus on his camera to his actual subject, he still looked underexposed, but he could get the details of the smoke now, and the iris of his eye as he lifted his head to look at the clouds above him while the sunrise was blurred. Max then zoomed out and stood back up, getting some last portraits of the horizon without the man in frame before looking at his photos and smiling. He knew his mother would love them.

Meanwhile, the younger man was turning away from the beach when the snaps of a camera startled him out of his thoughts. When he looked up to find out who else would be awake besides him, he saw a peculiar-looking man just a few floors above capturing pictures of palm trees. A messy bun was placed atop his head and on his body was a grey muscle shirt, but from the looks of him, the man thought, he doesn’t have that many. He chuckled at his own joke before looking back down and starting for the hotel. He wanted to be the first one at breakfast, before the woman he affectionately nicknamed Beyonce took nearly the entirety of French toast for herself and he was stuck with plain toast. She was a diva - that’s how she got her nickname - but she was not about to mess with his French toast on the last day of his vacation.

He was still thinking about his breakfast, in fact, when he felt a smack on his head. Without thinking to grab it, he looked down at the floor before the object slid out of his hair and onto the sand: a black lens cap. He picked it up immediately, noticing the words _Property of Cracker_ on the inside in an obnoxiously pink marker. That’s when he saw the man from earlier, only this time his cheeks were blushing deeper than the color of the lens cap’s writing.

For a second Max thought he was experiencing death when the man too pretty to be real looked up at him. Then he realized he was very much alive… and that he had to speak at some point before getting lost in his near-black eyes.

“Oh my gosh, I am so so sorry,” Max began. “I didn’t-”

“It’s fine, don’t worry about it,” the younger man chuckled, looking at the lens cap for a moment before gazing back up. He wasn’t all that bad looking when a camera wasn’t in his face. “But if it was a rock-”

“Oh no! I’d never throw a rock at you.” Max responded quickly, reprimanding himself in his head right after. _Smooth_.

“Uh, thanks…” The man paused, thinking for a second. He didn’t want to mess up his words just yet. “Do you mind if I bring this up to you? I’m not that good at pitching.”

Stunned, Max took a moment before replying to ponder if that was an innuendo. “Sure!” He smiled. “I’m in two fifty-four.”

The younger man grinned back up at him. “I’ll be up there in a few.”

Max smiled and nodded quickly before giving a thumbs up, causing the man below to smile himself as he walked back to the hotel’s entryway. _Maxwell, you fucking idiot,_ he thought to himself. _Who still gives thumbs up?_

As he slid his sandals on and walked back into the lobby the smell of pancakes hit his nose. He decided that once he got his shirt on and came down for breakfast, he was going to get his French toast and pancakes on top of that. _Fuck Beyonce and her entourage_ , he smirked as he recalled her husband and the brats she called children. As he smirked, he pressed the button for the elevator before recalling the man’s room number: 254.

It took him longer than it should have to remember he was in 253.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Look,” Giovanni started, walking even closer to stand directly in front of the three of them, who were eyeing him with suspicion. “I get what you’re doing, and I appreciate your concern, but I can handle myself.” Giovanni shrugged. “Yes, I gave him his lens cap and yes, I did have breakfast with him, but that’s it. Just because you have breakfast with someone doesn’t mean you’re going to be friends.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all so much for the love you’ve left on the first chapter and the asks you’ve been sending! This is the first fic I’ve written in five years and I’m so happy you’re all enjoying it. This chapter is ~3x longer than the first one but it’s your words that have really encouraged me to keep writing, so thank you again. Y’all are the best.
> 
> As always, I don't own the characters of Hercules, and you can find this on tumblr at whos-ornacia :)

The trip from the hotel lobby to room 254 was shorter than expected, but it didn’t stop the man from stalling. For a minute he established a pattern while leaning on the wall between his door and the other: first he stared at the lens cap in his hand, then at the carpeted floor, then at the door across the hall. The name Cracker, in a script the color of bubblegum pink, still perplexed him: what kind of name was Cracker? Was it his first name? Last name? Was it a weird nickname someone gave him while he was in college? If it was, how in the hell did he get it?

He had a shirt on now, a baggy black tank that hung off of his shoulders the way his shorts hung off his hips. He should have dressed better, since the guy in the hotel room was pretty handsome, but he had already seen him shirtless, so somewhere in between the elevator ride and putting on his shirt, he’d convinced himself that this guy wasn’t even important. All he was doing was returning the lens cap that hit him on the head and that would be that; however, the narrative he’d written didn’t stop him from painting on eyebrows to take up more time. That all being said, it had taken him about ten minutes to get ready counting the time he stared at the wall. It was more time than it should have for any normal person, but those that had the pleasure of knowing him knew he wasn’t a normal person - he was determined to be different ever since he was five.

When he’d reached the point of leaning against the wall where his shoulder blades felt uncomfortable, he jumped off of the overthinking train, stood up straight and knocked on the door to 254 with two short taps, one long, then three short again. He smirked at the pink script one more time when the man presumed to be Cracker answered the door. He was in the same clothes, but his cheeks weren’t the color of beets. They looked flushed, like he had been holding his breath in. When the younger man looked at his eyes, he saw they were light brown.

“Hey,” he said, visibly relaxing. “For a second I was worried you got lost.”

The younger man’s smirk became a smile of his own. “Worried? About little old me?” He chuckled for a beat. “Sure.”

The lens cap in his hand felt heavier with each moment passing by. “Um, I believe this is yours… uh,” he trailed for a second, lifting his hand to look at the cap as if the name had changed. “Cracker?”

The older man immediately burst with laughter so loud that it echoed in his room. It was an odd laugh to say the least, but it fit him better than a glove. “Oh, God, please don’t call me that.” He replied after he calmed down. “I go by Max.”

“Max,” the younger man repeated. “So is Cracker like a nickname?”

“I guess?” Max asked himself, still smiling. “No one’s called me that in years.” He paused to take the lens cap. “But thank you!” He paused, searching his face. “What was your name again?”

“G-Giovanni,” the younger man answered, extending his hand. “Giovanni Palandrani.”

Max shook his hand hesitantly as he said, “So your name is _Giovanni Palandrani_ , and you’re wondering why my nickname is _Cracker_.”

Giovanni couldn’t help but laugh, sounding small in comparison to Max’s. “My friends call me Gio. Some call me Aqua, though.”

“Aqua.”

“You know, ‘cause I’m an Aquarius.”

“Oh.” Max nodded slowly. He didn’t know that, but even if he had known that for an eternity, he looked nothing like an Aqua. If anything, he looked like a Cracker too.

“Hey,” Giovanni changed the subject, causing Max to look up at him. “I know it’s still pretty early and we’ve literally just met, but I’m about to get breakfast downstairs, if you want to come?”

Max thought to himself that it would be a crime not to.

“Yeah!” He responded. “Let me just put this down and grab my key.” Max extended the door, letting Gio hold it open while he placed the lens cap on the counter a few feet away. The room was a mirror image to his - it was a hotel, after all - but Max’s was remarkably neat, so neat that the bed didn’t even look slept in.

Before Gio could look at the rest of the room, Max was in front of him with his room key in hand. “Ready?” he asked.

Gio nodded in response, smiling as Max lead the way out of the door. He was much shorter than Gio originally thought; without the bun, he reached his shoulders at most. As he closed the door behind them and walked into the hallway, Gio couldn’t help but ask:  “So this is a random question, but if you had to choose between Disco Cher and Comeback Cher, which one would you choose?”

Max looked at the floor for a few moments, taking the question seriously as they approached the elevator. When he looked up again, he answered contently: “Comeback Cher. She sounded like a robot from outer space with that god-awful auto tune, but I mean, the gays bought it and Britney tried it, so that pretty much secured her legacy.” He pushed the button to go to the lobby. “You?”

Gio looked at him wide eyed. “I-I was just gonna say Disco Cher.”

Max laughed again, only this time not as loudly. “Is that what you were thinking about while you were walking like a Hollister model earlier?”

“Yes, that’s exactly what I was thinking.” Giovanni had a grin from ear to ear, showing three smile lines on each of his cheeks. The elevator opened to none other than the knockoff Beyonce, wearing a lighter blonde wig than the day before and oversized sunglasses. Her three kids, two boys and a girl, played with their tablets quietly. Gio and Max shuffled themselves in until they fit comfortably, with Max in front and Gio right behind. When the elevator closed, Max could feel the tension between Giovanni and the woman inside, so he decided to continue their conversation by mumbling so only Gio could hear.

“You’d really pick Disco Cher over Comeback Cher?”

Gio leaned back in response, his jaw lowered and his voice louder than they expected. “You’d pick Comeback Cher over _Disco Cher_?”

Before Max could answer, a snicker from the other adult in the elevator startled everyone in the elevator, including her children, who were looking up from their tablets in shock.

“They’re both better than movie star Cher,” The woman chimed in with a thick Texas accent, revealing a smile brighter than Giovanni’s skin on the beach.

“But mama-” One of her kids chimed in. She had lighter skin than her mother and large, round eyes.

“Snap out of it, Phi Phi.” The woman snapped, talking to her child over her shoulder. “Use your tablet, I don’t want you talking to me.”

Without another word, all of the children’s eyes whipped back to their screens while the doors to the elevator slid open. Gio and Max smiled politely at the woman as they left, walking faster than they should have to the breakfast buffet.

* * *

 In less than two hours of meeting Maxwell Heller, Giovanni felt like he knew everything about him. He was born in Seattle twelve years before him, and his family was Jewish. His mother was a painter, but she has a disease that’s causing her to lose her sight, so he started a project to get as many pictures of places she wanted to see before she completely lost her vision. The place they were at - Heaven, California - was one on her list. He works in New York as a photographer and writer for some websites, and he loved taking candid portraits in the little free time that he had. He was leaving the next day to go back to New York, so today he was going to go hiking on a trail that was rumored to be “the place where life truly began” (when Giovanni looked at him like he was a little loony, Max noted that those were the internet’s words and not his.) He also admitted that he hoped he could find some answers on this trail if the internet was right, but when Giovanni tried to probe further Max insisted he’d tell him when he got them. This was all learned while Giovanni devoured six pieces of French toast, a plate of strawberries and a tall glass of water, arguably the best breakfast he’d had in months.

Giovanni let Max do most of the talking, but he couldn’t help but want to divulge his entire life to Max in return for being so honest and letting him stare at his face for so long. He knew he couldn’t spill much without several weird looks and explanations that led to follow up questions, so he spilled what he could: he was from a suburb outside of Philly, hence the accent Max couldn’t place. He’d always known he was gay, and he always knew he was meant for more than what people expected of him. He was in Heaven for a vacation before heading back to work in New York himself, but he lied and said he was a design apprentice. Explaining that he did drag was too much for just meeting someone at a gay resort over breakfast.

Before the both of them knew it, it was close to nine in the morning and Max needed to go. The trail he was going on was about an hour away counting traffic, and he wanted to get some pictures before crowds of people filled them and complained about how hot it was. Giovanni nodded solemnly, like he knew what he was talking about despite the closest idea he could relate to was tourists blocking every part of his way to work, and that annoyed him to no end. By the time they started walking back to their rooms, Gio couldn’t help but like Max, even when he felt something in his gut telling him not to. Sure, his looks helped his case, but there was something that made him feel like he had known him forever. Usually, when he liked guys, Gio wanted them to press him against a wall and shove their tongues down their throats in desperation, but with Max he wanted to listen to him for hours. He could see himself at The Met single-handedly bringing the beret back into fashion while listening to Max talk about photography so long as he held his hand. He couldn’t see himself spending the rest of his life with him, but as of now, he wasn’t offended by it. The last time Gio was filled with this sense of admiration was only with one other person, and he wasn’t even attracted to her. Now that he could add being attracted to Max in the mix, he knew it was going to be so much worse for himself in the long run, but he asked for his number anyway. When he gave his phone to the older man, his smile was the only thing he could focus on. It wasn’t porcelain like Lady Beyonce’s at the other table (whose name, they found out, was Asia), and his two front teeth were slightly longer in the front than others, but Gio was enchanted by that smile and by Max, and he wanted to learn more about him as soon as they were both back in New York.

He slid the hotel key into its entrance after Max went into his room, letting himself smile so wide his cheeks started to ache. When the door’s light turned green, he walked inside and turned to close it when a familiar voice made his smile fall faster than he thought possible.

“Hey, kiddo!”

The door had closed, but Gio didn’t want to turn around. Her voice was higher and much happier than he expected, but he couldn’t bear to hear it. Of course she had to come when something good happened.

As he turned around, faking a smile, The first thing he noticed was her royal blue hair, which flowed in waves to her chest. Her outfit, as per usual, was a sleeveless black gown that went to the floor, and her arms were sprinkled with tattoos: one of Tammy Faye Bakker, a kiss mark on her forearm, a phone number on one of her biceps, and the date of Halloween on her ring finger. Her makeup was heavy but meticulous, and her lips were the color of eggplants. A smile was plastered on her face as she towered over Gio.

“Hey, Sharon!” Giovanni spoke through his teeth.

“You remember Thorgy and Betty, right?” Sharon motioned to her left.

With the way they looked, Gio couldn’t not remember them. Glancing to the bed, he saw Thorgy and Betty sitting on its edge in white leather outfits. Because Betty liked being _more_ in every sense of the word, she’d covered every square inch of her jacket and pants with buttons while Thorgy’s only accessory was a small checkerboard scarf tied around her neck. Betty was nearly glaring at Gio from under her bright orange bangs, but Thorgy gave him a warm smile that showed the lines on her face. Her hair was the color of a firetruck, and on that day it was perched on her head in a messy bun the size of a cantaloupe. They both had similar makeup - thick black eyeliner and contour that made their faces look more hollow than they were - but they were Sharon’s right hand queens, and they insisted that part of being a team started with looking like a team.

“Of course!” Gio replied, walking closer to them. “It’s like I just saw them yesterday.”

Without a beat to pause, Betty replied, “You did see us yesterday, you idiot.” leading Thorgy to smack her on the back of the head. Betty glared at her in response while Thorgy waved the way an excited soccer mom would seeing her baby in his first game.

“Yes, you did!” Sharon responded, still seeming happy. “But they told me they saw you this morning on the beach, and according to them you made friends with the boy next door?”

Giovanni froze, unaware that the two had been watching him. “Well, not necessarily.” he began. “His lens cap fell on my head and I gave it back to him-”

“You had breakfast with-” Betty began before Thorgy placed her hand over Betty’s mouth, causing her to stop before she got too loud.

“The kid’s still next door, genius!” Thorgy shout-whispered before yelping and releasing her hand. Betty had pulled the old bite trick again.

“I don’t care if he’s next door!” Betty retorted, speaking at a normal volume again. “The kid knows the rules,” Betty motioned to Gio. “and he can break literally all of them and be in Sharon’s good graces except one! And he’s breaking That One!”

Sharon watched Thorgy and Betty go at it with a straight face, while Gio couldn’t stop snickering. When he calmed down enough, he broke his silence.

“Look,” Giovanni started, walking even closer to stand directly in front of the three of them, who were eyeing him with suspicion. “I get what you’re doing, and I appreciate your concern, but I can handle myself.” Giovanni shrugged. “I gave him his lens cap and yes, I did have breakfast with him, but that’s it. Just because you have breakfast with someone doesn’t mean you’re gonna be friends.”

“Sweetie,” Thorgy stepped in front of Betty, placing a hand on Gio’s shoulder. “we’re just worried about you.”  

“And by worried she means we haven’t slept a wink.” Betty leaned around to look at her.

It was that moment that Sharon finally spoke. “Aw, isn’t that sweet. My two assistants actually caring about my little baby’s success!” She smiled for a second before breaking and rolling her eyes. “It’s a real shame I can see through all of it.” With that, Sharon turned and motioned to the chair at her other side, smiling as calmly as she could. “Have a seat, Dear.”

Gio sat in front of the mirror as Sharon instructed while Thorgy and Betty scrambled to get their best view of the show, landing on each end of the bed. Sharon turned to the mirror and placed each hand on one of Giovanni’s shoulders, closing her eyes for a moment to collect her thoughts. When she opened them, they were the color of summer grass just before the sun turned it brown. The hem of her dress that was intact moments before extended and disappeared into black smoke, only to reappear again at the bottom and repeat its pattern. Her hair, still long and blue, moved the same way her dress did. This was the Sharon that Gio first met, and this was the one he was afraid of seeing when he walked in the hotel door.

“I’m not mad.” Sharon began, pushing Gio’s chin up with her finger to meet her eyes in the mirror.. “Actually, I get it.” She smiled.

“You do?” Betty and Thorgy asked simultaneously.

“You do?” Gio turned to look at her, feeling her boy clothes flash into a gown when Sharon removed her hands from her shoulders. When she stood straight, Gio’s head felt heavy, and he was sure long hair was cascading down his back.

“Of course! Humans aren’t a species that likes being alone. It’s not fun, let me tell you. I know I’m a goddess and all, but I miss Chad already!” Before she continued, she looked to Thorgy and Betty, whose eyes were wide and in awe of Gio’s transformation before they looked up at Sharon. “ _Don’t_ tell him I said that.”

She turned back to her protege, who was still looking up at her, and squatted to meet her eyes in the chair. She gave her a smile, admiring the work she had just done on her daughter.

“But Aqua,” Sharon breathed. “How many times do I have to tell you that when you do drag,” she turned her chair towards the mirror again. “you can’t have friends?”

When Gio looked at himself, bright blue eyes stared back at him instead of dark brown, and voluminous platinum curls framed his face, which was painted for the gods by a goddess herself. Her eyes looked bigger due to the extended eyeliner and lashes, and her eyebrows were light brown and much higher than his normal brows would be. The contours of his face were brought out more by creams and powders, and his lips were the color of blood.

It was in that moment he knew he wasn’t Giovanni Palandrani. She was Aquaria, goddess of the stars. Or, at least, the soon-to-be goddess of the stars.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “I’m not saying you’re bad at taking pictures, because you’re not, but Miz Cracker is the future of drag and you have her stuffed in boxes in your tiny little apartment.”
> 
> Max sighed. He had a feeling this was what the conversation would be about. “Bob, Brie on a Cracker is a chapter of my life that’s done.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all so much for continuing to read this! I’m so happy y’all like it as much as I like writing it. Please keep up the love <3
> 
> Disclaimer: I don't own the characters in Hercules. 
> 
> If you want, come and talk to me at whos-ornacia on tumblr!

Max didn’t like to admit he was lost, but on May 31st just past twelve-o'clock, he sat on a rock beside the path and acknowledged that he was lost.

He was following the trail like Google Maps had shown him, but somewhere along the way his phone lost service and he was nowhere near the beach, even though he was supposed to be there a while ago. Normally he’d be okay, assured that someone on the trail would pass by and then he could ask for directions. Unfortunately for him, though, there wasn’t a soul in sight or earshot. So there he sat, alone on a rock in what was called Heaven, California, and he felt like this was his personal hell.

He checked the time on his watch: 12:22. Small beads of sweat were gliding slowly down his face and back, and when he looked up, the sun blinded him. In response to the sun he hunched over, head between his knees, and cursed himself. He was frustrated for not having a backup plan, not even a physical map he could have bought at a shop, but he knew it was irrational to be that upset. The business center at the hotel didn’t have a printer, and his itinerary had been so packed during the trip that he hadn’t had the time to stop anywhere to find one. He wanted to find an excuse but every idea had a plausible alibi behind it. For once the mission to frame himself for everything wrong was going cold, and he was not used to it in the slightest.

When he finally resigned to letting his thoughts trail off and come to the present, he came up with a brilliant idea as one always does when they stop overthinking things: he would stand on the rock he was sitting on and try to find something that showed him where he was. Not wasting another minute, Max stood up and climbed onto the rock, only to still be too short to see above the trees. Max slumped his shoulders and sighed, pursing his lips as he did so. He did like to be tall, but only when it helped him in the long run, and this didn’t help one bit.

His sense of hearing came to the rescue, however, when he was convinced he heard someone whisper “Max!” behind him. He looked directly behind him and then to his sides, but no one was in sight. Standing, he walked back onto the path and looked both ways, still finding no one. Concerned that he might be hallucinating from the heat, he brushed it off and grabbed his water bottle out of his bag. Then he heard the voice again, this time speaking in a voice that was familiar but he couldn’t pinpoint exactly where it was coming from.

“Cracker, you’re not hallucinating.” He heard the voice again, this time behind him.

Max spit out the water he was drinking and turned around again, this time seeing a stairway down to the beach that he knew wasn’t there before, as well as a tall and dark-skinned drag queen looking down at him. She had a wig that was styled in a half-ponytail, and she was wearing a black and silver sequined suit that hugged her curves and showed off her tiny waist. She eyed him with a smirk and her hands on her hips, certain that she knew what he was about to say.

“Bob, what the hell are you doing here?!” Max jumped up excitedly, reminding Bob of a puppy seeing its owner after work.

Bob put her hands at her sides and laughed. “That wasn’t what I was expecting you to say at all!”

“I haven’t seen you in months!” Max moved to embrace her and Bob obliged. 

“I know,” Bob replied during their hug. “I try and visit when life gets less crazy, but you know how it is. Life gets crazier the older we get.”

Max nodded in agreement, still smiling widely. “But you didn’t answer my question! What are you doing here _? _ ” he asked. “This is like, far away from any drag scene.”

“Okay, first of all,” Bob turned around and started down the stairs, not bothering to see if Max was behind her. “Heaven has a great drag scene; it’s just not talked about because people are sexist and don’t want to include women doing incredible drag in their herstory. Secondly…” she stopped after the first flight of stairs and turned around, seeing Max still at the top of the stairs. “I’m here because of you, bitch!”

Max immediately ran down the stairs to catch up to Bob who was tapping her foot. “Why me?”

“Because I’m your drag mom and I know you’re wasting your life behind a camera!” Bob said, turning to continue down the trail while Max walked at his side, clutching his camera bag a little tighter. “I’m not saying you’re bad at taking pictures, because you’re not, but Miz Cracker is the future of drag and you have her stuffed in boxes in your tiny little apartment.”

Max sighed. He had a feeling this was what the conversation would be about. “Bob, Brie on a Cracker is a chapter of my life that’s done.”

Bob turned to look at him with raised eyebrows. Max’s eyes were glued to the stairs so he wouldn’t fall, and his shoulders hunched over as if he had already been defeated in battle. Bob knew he didn’t want to talk about it, but they needed to. Time was running thin.

When they’d reached the bottom of the stairs and the wood became white sand under their feet, Max decided to look up, and the view in front of him made his eyes widen with wonder.

The first thing he noticed was the water, which was the brightest blue he had seen. The sun directly above them made the water sparkle more than any rhinestone in his memory. In the distance, the landmark locals called Heaven’s Gate stood out against the landscape, one of the tallest statues in America that looked like the backs of angel’s wings. And directly in front of him was an art installation that resembled a bow and arrow, made with glass blown from the white sands it was installed in. For a place called Heaven, California, Max was certain it lived up to its name in the eyes of artists like him. If his mother were there with him, he knew she would be in awe too.

“Do you really want to know why I left New York all those years ago?” Bob finally asked. 

When he turned to look at Bob, the light was so bright that he had to blink, and before his eyes were opened again he recognized the weight of false eyelashes brushing against the skin under his eyes.

“What did you do to me?” Max asked. Despite the heat and the sweat on his face earlier, Max’s suddenly felt cold and couldn’t feel where sweat had pooled before. He raised his hands to touch his hair when he saw a flash of baby pink nails embedded on his fingertips. He lowered one instantly while the other felt the bangs of a light blonde wig. He ran past Bob to the water and fell to his knees, looking for something that said he really wasn’t feeling water and sand under him and that in a few minutes he’d wake up in his hotel bed without makeup or a wig in sight.

When he saw his face in the water, Miz Cracker was staring right back at him. Her hair did indeed have side-swept bangs, its large waves pinned back and landing just past her shoulder blades. Her eyes were big, brown and expressive, thanks in part to the way her crease was cut and painted with neutral shadows. Her brows were drawn thick and arched but not pointed, landing higher than he used to paint them. Her nose was contoured to look much smaller than how she used to do it, and her highlight was the color of champagne and gave a glow better than any powder she used to use. Her lips were colored a bright red, and they were overdrawn to make them look full and pouted. This was better than any drag Cracker could pull off, and she knew she looked beautiful, but she felt like it wasn’t right. Without saying anything she took her hands into the water when it flowed under her and splashed handfuls of it onto her face, rubbing it into her cheeks in an upward direction. When nothing budged she started to pull her lashes off, and those came off successfully, but when she looked back at her reflection, there they were again, black and curled to where her boy brows would be. In a last ditch effort, she even tried yanking her wig off, but to her dismay, that wouldn’t budge either. No matter how hard she tried, Miz Cracker wouldn’t leave her alone.

When she accepted her fate, she turned again to find Bob, who was wading into the water that reached the middle of her calves. When their eyes met, she walked back to her as Cracker started to speak.

“Why.” she said, sounding more like a statement than a question. Her arms fell to her sides and she sat back on her knees, finding that she was wearing heels instead of sandals.

“Why what?” Bob responded, holding out her hand to get Cracker standing again.

“Just… why? Why did you leave New York, why are you here and why the fuck am I in drag right now?!” Cracker was standing up now, and her voice had raised remarkably since the conversation started.

Bob sighed, knowing the conversation was going to get weird. “Would you believe me if I said I was a goddess?”

The only way to describe the look on Cracker’s face was as if she was calling her stupid but without words.

“Well… that looks like a no,” Bob began after a beat of silence. “but believe it or not, Bob the Drag Queen is queen of the gods.” She said with her arms extended before letting them fall and make noise when they hit her thighs.

Cracker was still stunned, looking at her drag mom in disbelief. “This is a joke.”

Bob leaned her head forward, her breath huffing in disbelief at Cracker’s own disbelief. “I’m not joking, bitch!”

“Then prove it.” she smirked then, folding her arms across her chest confidently.

Bob’s response to that request was the same look that Cracker gave to her moments ago. “I put you in drag in the blink of an eye and you’re still not gonna believe me?”

“Okay that’s fair,” Cracker said slowly, “but how did  _ you _ , out of every drag queen in existence, end up being queen of the gods?”

“Bianca retired.” Bob answered nonchalantly.

“Wait, Bianca?”

“Yes, Bianca.”

“Bianca Del Rio?”

“Yes, Bianca Del Rio!”

Cracker looked confused. “But… she still performs?”

Bob sighed again. He forgot that part of talking to mortals was explaining everything. “During your time as a goddess and even afterwards you can keep up human appearances so no one thinks you died. But do you remember that month where she was, like, dead on social media and everyone thought she was competing on Drag Race again when Adore had to come in and be like ‘Oh guys, she’s totally fine.’”

Cracker paused for a beat. “I don’t remember that at all.”

“Okay,  _ anyways _ ,” Bob explained again, “there was a point in time where there was like radio silence on Bianca’s end, and during that time she was training me to take her place.”

By this point Cracker was caught up in the fact that Bianca Del Rio, arguably one of the best queens in existence, retired from being queen of the gods. She didn’t quite believe it, but she was intrigued. “Wait, why’d she retire?”

“Same reason I’m retiring.”

“You’re retiring too?”

“Yes, girl.”

“Who’s gonna take your place?

“And  _ that’s _ why you’re in drag!” She answered enthusiastically, pointing at Cracker and emphasizing those last three words.

Her eyes widened for the third time in the past fifteen minutes. “You want me to do it?”

Bob nodded in response.

“Are you sure?”

A booming laughter came so hard from Bob that a gust of wind actually picked up during the time she laughed and came to a standstill when she calmed down. “Of course I’m sure!” Bob replied, walking closer to her. “You’re my drag daughter, and like I told you the first time I put you in drag, you’re destined for greatness.”

“But I haven’t done drag in years. No one’s gonna give me a gig if they remember me and how badly I did the last time.”

“There’s an upside to that though!”

“What’s that?”

“Re-in-ven-tion!” Bob answered, waving her hands in the shape of a rainbow and causing a very faint rainbow in the sky before she put her hands down. “Reinvention is a powerful thing. Remember when I was Kittin with an i-n?”

Cracker laughed at that, placing a hand over her mouth to hide her smile. She first did drag and nearly got arrested with Bob when she was Kittin-with-an-i-n.

“Reinvention led little Christopher Caldwell to Roberta, who is now your reigning queen of the gods Bob the Drag Queen. If I can do it, you can do it too!” Bob said, putting her arm around her daughter. “Plus, there’s one person that hasn’t forgotten you and actually  _ likes  _ you! She likes you so much, in fact, that I asked her to help you in any way possible and she said yes.” Bob grinned.

“Is this so you don’t go radio silent?”

“Yes ma’am! She learned everything I learned from the same drag mom… And I told her if you did well I’d give her a few things.”

“You bribed her?”

As soon as Cracker asked, Bob snapped her fingers in her free hand together while smirking and instantly they saw a brown-skinned woman in an emerald green leotard and tights apparate, then fall onto the sand. When she got up, Cracker instantly recognized her by her signature white pussycat wig. As she swiped the sand off of herself, she began to speak, and her voice was sounded just like Bob at Cracker’s left, who was still chuckling at the fact that she fell.

“Yes she did bri-” the woman stopped and made a face before blowing air out of her mouth a few times. She raised a hand up in apology. “Sorry, got some sand in my mouth. But yes she did bribe me cause ya girl needs Mon ét! ” She finished and showed her beautiful white smile. As she walked to Cracker, she extended her arms. “Are you ready to take on the world, Miz Cracker?!”

When Cracker hugged her, she recalled the smell of Mon ét’s smoky vanilla and bourbon perfume and how it contrasted against the smells of the beach. “Not sure,” she announced when she let go, “but it’s good to see you again.”

Mon ét looked down at her, confused. “How are you gonna say you’re not sure when your face is beat like this? You look incredible!”

Cracker smiled sweetly while Bob proudly thanked  Mon ét for her compliment.

“But seriously, are you gonna do it?”  Mon ét asked Cracker.

“Do what?”

“What do you mean ‘Do what?’ Bob is asking you to be Queen of the Goddesses, and you already forgot?!”

“I didn’t word it like that.” Bob admitted to  Mon ét. “But now that you said it,” she let go of Cracker then to face her. “would you do drag again to take my place?”

It was then when the shock finally hit Miz Cracker. Bob really was a goddess, the literal  _ queen _ of the goddesses, and she wanted her to be the next one. Bob could create wind and cause rainbows and make friends like  Mon ét appear out of thin air. She could even put her in the best drag of her life and make her a superstar. And on top of that, she could come down to Earth and still turn it out every once in a while. If Miz Cracker was queen of the goddesses, she wouldn’t have to write or do photography unless she wanted to. If the universe were the most expensive Lamborghini on the planet, she would get the keys to it and drive it in whatever direction she wanted. That would be a lot of weight on her shoulders, but then again, it was tempting.

Cracker looked up at Bob then.  Mon ét was looking down at her with her arm around Cracker’s shoulders. She was nervous, but she knew what she needed to ask.

“I’m not saying yes…” Cracker breathed. “But what exactly does someone have to do to be a goddess?”


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> At that, Kevin laughed and slowly turned to Max to ask, “So… how’s your love life?”
> 
> Max sighed with a small smile on his face, his cheeks feeling warmer as Kevin nearly shouted “You’re blushing! You’re blushing!” in the nearly-empty restaurant.
> 
> Max swatted his hand away before answering, “I met a guy this morning, actually. But he’s young. Like, too young for me.”
> 
> Kevin leaned in like he was getting served the best tea in the world. “How young are we talking?”
> 
> Max looked up to the ceiling, still blushing. “Twenty-two?”
> 
> “Twenty-two!” Bob and Kevin both exclaimed, causing them to laugh.
> 
> “Shit, I wish I could get it in with a thirty-year-old!” Bob added.
> 
> “But seriously,” Kevin said once he stopped laughing. “you’re getting it in with a twenty-two year old?”
> 
> “I’m not-” Max paused to laugh, looking back down at them as he reached for his camera bag. “We literally met this morning.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Again, I can’t thank y’all enough for the love of this idea. This is the longest chapter I’ve written so far and it’s definitely different than how I planned on the story going, but honestly the way it flowed when I was writing it made it all worth it. Now that I have an AO3 account, I'll post every new chapter here after I post it on Tumblr!
> 
> Disclaimer: I still don't own the characters of Hercules

After Max agreed to follow in his drag mother’s footsteps to become queen of the gods, Bob snapped Mon ét and Miz Cracker out of drag, making them Kevin and Max. Max then drove the three of them to a sushi place he had heard about where Bob explained the real reason he needed Cracker, after Kevin pointed out that she was holding something back.

“This is gonna sound weird.” Bob said as she placed her napkin in her lap, “but I got a call from RuPaul and he said Sharon is planning for war.”

Kevin leaned back into his chair and looked at Bob from across the table. “Sharon? Like Sharon Needles?”

“No, Sharon Stone!” She answered sarcastically, making Max and Kevin laugh. Max, for one, would love to see a world ruled by Sharon Stone. “Of course it’s Sharon Needles. Ru said he had a vision of Sharon riding into Olympus with some of the most powerful forces in drag.”

“Oh shit,” Kevin responded, laughing nervously. “I see why you didn’t mention it.”

Bob nodded then. “But what bothers me about it is that he said someone was going to be with him, more powerful than the forces he’s going to use.” She continued, exchanging looks between the both of them. “He said she would ride in on a white chariot driven by white horses, and she’d be a better fighter than any god he could think of.”

Max’s brow furrowed. “Did he give you any clue as to who it was?”

“He said he couldn’t figure out her real name, but he said he heard a name that sounded like somebody’s horoscope…” Bob trailed, trying to think of the name. “A-Aquarius?”

At that Max felt the hair on his arms stand up. If it was who he thought it was, he wanted to shudder. Gio was only 22, and he didn’t mention anything about drag. But considering he didn’t know that his drag mother was a goddess until an hour before that moment, he knew meeting Gio was more than coincidence.

“But then,” Bob continued, “Ru said two people were fighting with me: one that looked like my sister,” she motioned to Kevin, “and one with strength greater than any star.”

That confused Max. His brand as Miz Cracker was thin, white, and salty; that sounded nothing like strength. “How do you know that’s me?”

Bob tilted her head to the left and squinted her eyes at Max before continuing.. “As I was saying,” she laughed. “He said her strength came from letting go of incredible fear,” both she and Kevin turned to Max, “and that’s how I knew it was you.”

Max looked down then, blushing slightly as he understood what his drag mother was trying to say. “That makes sense.”

“So that all being said, I needed to get a hold of you now to get you ready, cause truth be told we don’t know when Sharon and this Aquarius kid are coming through on chariots. It could be tomorrow, it could be in a year.”

Max spoke after a few moments of uncomfortable silence: “I say it’s a month.”

“Why a month?” Kevin asked

“It took a month to train Bob, so if Sharon’s playing fair, she thinks it’ll take a month to train me.” Max answered. 

Bob nodded solemnly then. “You’re probably right.  _ If _ , keyword if, Sharon decides to be noble, she’ll want to give us a fair chance so she can say she won fair and square.”

“But how am I supposed to let go of this so-called ‘incredible fear’ in a month?” He couldn’t help but ask.

Bob stifled a laugh, remembering one small detail. “When I asked, he quoted the fucking Hercules movie!” Bob cleared his throat to do a spot-on RuPaul impression. “You know, people do crazy things when they’re in love, Bob.”

Kevin and Max exploded with laughter again at the accuracy of Bob’s voice, Kevin turning then to ask his friend, “So... how’s your love life?

Max sighed with a small smile on his face, his cheeks feeling warmer as Kevin nearly shouted “You’re blushing! You’re blushing!” in the nearly-empty restaurant. 

Max swatted his hand away before answering, “Actually, I met a guy this morning. But he’s young. Like, too young for me.”

Kevin leaned in like he was getting served the best tea in the world. “How young are we talking?”

Max looked up to the ceiling, still blushing. “Twenty-two?”

“Twenty-two!” Bob and Kevin both exclaimed, causing them to laugh.

“Shit, I wish I could get it in with a thirty-year-old!” Bob added.

“But seriously,” Kevin said once he calmed down. “you’re getting it in with a  _ twenty-two  _ year old?”

“I’m not-” Max paused to laugh, looking back down at them as he reached for his camera bag. “We literally met this morning.” He placed the bag on his lap to unzip it and bring out his DSLR. “I have pictures!”

“Okay that’s a little creepy,” Bob replied. “You just met him this morning and you got pictures of him?”

That’s when Kevin’s eyes lit up and met Bob’s. “What if this man is about to show us another man’s nudes?!”

The two of them erupted with laughter then, and Max was thankful that the restaurant was empty, otherwise they’d be getting strange looks from other customers. Kevin was wiping a tear from his eyes when he got a glimpse of the pictures Max had taken and leaned over to look at them, observing as Max found his favorite.

“This is him.” Max gave the camera to Kevin, whose jaw had dropped when he saw the picture. The clouds were vibrant shades of orange, with the sun making the subject look like a mere silhouette, but upon close inspection, he saw the man’s face, looking away from the camera. His lips were pursed in thought, his nose was defined but not long, and his eyes were black and narrowed. In his hand, he held a cigarette that smoke was rising out of and causing a disruption against the sunrise. His hair was neatly groomed, and the sun gleamed on his bare shoulders.

“Oh he’s pretty.” was all Kevin could say before handing the camera to Bob, who blinked a few times, as if she was dreaming.

“Wow.” Bob said. “And you met this man this morning?”

Max nodded, taking the camera when Bob gave it back to him. “Yeah. I was getting some more pictures of the sunrise without him when I leaned forward and my lens cap fell on his head. Then he invited me for breakfast.”

“Oh, come on, flirtation!” Kevin responded, hitting him playfully on the shoulder. “What’s his name? What’s he like?”

Max looked at Kevin after he turned off the camera. “His name’s Giovanni,” he began before sighing. He knew he had to tell them. “And he seems sweet, but something he said earlier just seems off to me now.” He said, looking to Bob, who instantly raised her eyebrows. As always, they had a psychic connection, and Max knew what she was about to say.

“What’s his sign?”

Max took a deep breath. “He’s an Aquarius.”

* * *

 

_ It’s a lonely road to the top, _ Sharon insisted.

_ When you put your faith in people, all they do is let you down _ , Thorgy said disappointingly.

_ I’m gonna tell you exactly what The Fates told us _ , Betty said in a rare moment of sincerity.  _ You have to put yourself first. _

Giovanni knew they were right, they always were, but he pressed the send button on a text to Max anyway. Before he could regret it, he put his phone on the nightstand and looked up at the ceiling. It had been four years since Gio had pledged his loyalty to Sharon, and he’d followed every direction she had given him until now. In the time that they had spent together, Sharon had fulfilled nearly every promise she made, with the exception of one she added herself: when the planets aligned, Sharon would overtake the goddesses, and Aquaria would be at her side. When their queen, who Sharon said was named Bob, inevitably surrendered her godhood, Aquaria would become goddess of the stars. She never said what that would entail, but for a while he imagined spending nights awake, laying on silvery clouds that felt like pillows, and making sure the stars were all in their places until dawn.

Sharon never told him when that day would come, but that morning she hinted it was soon, so Gio needed to be ready when the time came. The current queen, Bob, was looking for someone to take her place, making her all the more vulnerable when Sharon attacked. For years Gio dreamed about what it would be like to fly in, seeing goddesses cower in fear when an army of the dead came behind them. He could see Aquaria in armor the color of gunmetal, blonde hair flowing behind her as she wielded a sword and fought against them. But now he felt that something in this vision was off. It was not going to be a valiant return of what was rightly Sharon’s. It was going to be a war that wasn’t Aquaria’s, but was the moment Gio made the deal with the goddess of the underworld.

A thought of the goddess Aquaria turning her power against Sharon danced into Giovanni’s brain when his phone buzzed to life, signaling someone was calling him. He looked to see that it was Sharon, requesting to Facetime him. He threw that fantasy out of his head and sat up before he slid the answer button, seeing Sharon in short red hair that was disappearing at its ends the way her blue hair was that morning. Before Gio could say hello, Sharon said excitedly, “I know who’s taking Bob’s place!”

“You do?” Gio asked.

“Yes!” Sharon’s voice jumped higher.

“How do you know?”

“The Fates told me.” She explained, grinning wider than Gio had ever remembered seeing her. “I just got off the phone with them.”

“And who is it?”

Sharon said confidently, “They said it had something to do with crackers.”

Gio’s mind went blank as a movie montage replayed the events of that morning and the countless times he had stared at  _ Property of Cracker _ written on Max’s lens cap. He wanted to say something, anything, but instead he felt how wide his eyes had gotten as he looked away from Sharon and at the blue carpeted floor.

“What, do you know her?!” Sharon nearly shouted, breaking Gio out of his trance. He looked at the phone again, seeing Sharon with a hungry grin and the additions of Betty and Thorgy at Sharon’s sides, both with their eyebrows raised eagerly.

“I-no,” Gio started. “I’m trying to think.” He tried to sound genuine. “Did they say it in a riddle or something?”

It was then when Betty answered. “They said they weren’t going to tell us, and when Sharon complained, Michelle was like ‘Sorry, kid, that’s just the way the cookie crumbles!’”

Thorgy cut in then: “And then Ross said ‘Or should we say Cracker!’ and then they both laughed and Ru looked at them upset and hung up the call. And now we’re here.”

Gio laid back on the bed with an exhale of his breath, putting the phone above his face. “Crackers, crackers, crackers…” Gio tried to stall. “Like wheat thins?” He feigned an idea then, lifting his hand up the way he always did when something good came to his brain. “Oh! What if her name was Triscuit?”

Sharon looked up, trying to see if it was plausible, while Thorgy and Betty nodded at each other. They were starting to buy it.

“What about Triscuit Dujour?” Betty asked.

“That’s Tempest DuJour.” Sharon answered quickly.

“BenDeLaTriscuit?”

“How do you get BenDeLaTriscuit from BenDeLaCreme?”

That’s when Gio got the perfect idea, remembering a drag queen with an aspect of grains in her name: “Dida Ritz!”

“You’re absolutely right!” Sharon beamed. “I knew I could count on you!”

Gio felt his stomach drop, but he knew he had to keep talking. “And if it’s not her, maybe it’s one of her daughters or like somebody close to her.”

“Oh my darling Giovanni, you’re a genius!” Sharon shouted, proud of her daughter’s efforts. “First thing in the morning, we’ll find her. But for now, we got a show to do. Thank you so much, Sweetheart. I’m so lucky to have you.” Sharon spoke faster, noticing the time that was at the top of her phone screen. “Gotta go, baby boy. Love you!”

“Love you too!” Gio responded quickly, wanting the phone call to end as soon as possible. “Bye!” He waved at the three of them, who waved back for a moment before he pressed the end button and slammed his phone on the bed, letting it bounce. He closed his eyes for a beat and sharply inhaled before grabbing his phone again and heading for its internet, typing the words “cracker drag queen nyc” in the search bar as quickly as he could.

Suddenly he understood why Sharon insisted he shouldn’t have friends.

* * *

 

It had been an hour since Max returned to his hotel room, and he was leaning back in a chair on his balcony, looking up at the sunset and listening to music to pass the time. His camera had died a few minutes before, still on that one picture of Gio looking off in the distance. After he admitted what he knew to his friends, even they agreed they needed him to talk to Giovanni, but with the exhaustion from being in the sun combined with finding out every monotheistic religion was a lie and the Greeks were right, not to mention one of his closest friends was the equivalent of Zeus, he was a small and tired Jewish man. Overwhelmed was merely the beginning of what he was feeling.

When a song stopped on his phone, he snapped out of his trance to sit up properly and take a look at it. It was a call from Giovanni’s number, the one that texted him earlier. Without a second thought, he pressed the volume down button, ending the call. The screen returned to the lock screen, where several messages from Giovanni were waiting, so he swiped his notifications away until there was nothing left, and was about to press play on his song when Giovanni’s voice broke his concentration.

“Max, I can see you from here.” He said, his voice raised.

In response, Max let out an audible groan and closed his eyes while he tapped the play button on his screen. “No you can’t.”

“I’m literally right next door to you” Gio sighed, watching Max put his head back up towards the ceiling. “You’re being extremely immature right now.” He said, his voice raised higher. He was about to go on when he realized how close their balconies were.

Max was in the middle of a song when he heard a screen door slam shut. Not even bothering to look up, he assumed it was Gio’s and smiled softly. His eyes were closed and he was feeling the evening breeze as he listened to the Strokes through his earbuds.  _ I guess that problem solved itself _ .

Moments later he felt the world spinning around him, signaling that he needed to go back into his hotel room and sleep. Opening his eyes, he removed his legs from the railing and placed them on the floor so he could get up. As he stood, he stretched his arms towards the sky and then bent over, touching his toes before standing up straight. He looked at the view one more time, thinking about how much he was going to miss it, before turning around and seeing Giovanni on his balcony. Cracker’s immediate response was a scream, triggering a scream of Gio’s own. The both of them leaned back on the opposite ends of the balcony, staring each other down in fear.

“Why are you ignoring me?” Gio demanded.

“Why the fuck are you  _ on my balcony _ ?”

“We need to talk!”

“No we don’t!” Max shouted, alarming both himself and Giovanni. “Look, we had fun, we said we’d hang out later, but things changed and I can’t be seen with you, I’m sorry.” He walked past him and opened his glass door, not even acknowledging him. “Just get off my balcony and leave me alone.”

Max tried to slam the door behind him, but Aquaria caught it and slammed it open harder than he expected, causing Max to recoil and face him.

“I know you know Bob.” Giovanni admitted calmly, though his heart was beating incredibly fast. “You did drag years ago. Your name was Brianna Cracker because your favorite snack was Brie on a Cracker. For a while you went by Miz Cracker before you quit drag and dropped off the face of the earth.” He paused, letting Max absorb it. “Am I right?”

The older man nodded slowly, recalling that he had his knife in the top drawer of the nightstand.

“Listen,” Gio said through heavy breathing, letting his heart rate settle. “Sharon Needles is after you. I threw her off your trail by telling her to go after Dida Ritz, but it won’t be long before she finds you.”

Max eyed him suspiciously, but relaxed his muscles. “How do you know that?”

“I…” Gio trailed off, wondering how he could explain it the best he could.

“Giovanni, I need you to be honest with me.” Max spoke slowly, moving in front of where his eyes were looking so they could meet.

He sighed then, walking into Max’s room and searching his eyes for permission. When he nodded, he walked in until he was a few feet away from Max. “I sold my soul to her when I was eighteen so I could do drag.”

Max’s mouth fell slightly agape. “What’s your drag name?”.

“Aquaria.”

Max looked away for a moment, not sure what word could describe the feeling of his stomach dropping as low as it could. When he turned back to Gio, he hoped his eyes were giving disappointment. “And where’s Sharon now?”

“Las Vegas. But she’s flying to Michigan to find Dida tomorrow.”

Max looked at the floor, processing what was happening. If what he said was true, he knew that Dida Ritz was going to die and he had to let Bob and Monet know immediately. But if he was lying to throw them off, Sharon could be outside his door and ready to take him now. 

“How can I trust you?” Max asked him.

Giovanni thought for a moment before decided he was going to make the ballsiest move of his entire life. Letting out all the breath he had been holding, he walked until he was inches away from Max, leaned down and kissed him gently on the cheek, closing his eyes and feeling stubble before stopping himself from moving to his lips. When he stood back in front of him, Max’s round eyes weren’t blinking when his gaze moved back to him and the words  _ people do crazy things when they’re in love _ played over and over in his head.

“I like you,” Gio finally broke the silence. “and I don’t want to see you get hurt.”

Without saying a word, Max  walked to the nightstand and reached for his knife in the drawer and grabbing the car keys he placed next to the alarm clock, all while having his eyes locked on Gio. “Does Sharon have a tracker on you or anything?” Max asked flatly.

Gio shook his head, wishing he’d run away after he kissed him.

Max took a deep breath then, knowing the decision he was making. “Go to your room and pack your bags. Throw your phone in the dumpster and meet me in the lobby in ten minutes.”

“Why do I have to leave my phone?” Gio asked, genuinely confused.

“If you sold your soul to the goddess of the underworld, and if she’s anything like Bob, she can track your phone.” Max motioned to the door.

“What are we gonna do?” Gio asked, walking with Max to his door.

“We’re defying fate, now go.” Max declared, opening the door. When Giovanni walked out of it, he repeated what he said earlier: “Lobby, ten minutes.”

Giovanni nodded, closing the door behind him and walking next door. As he opened his room, he immediately reached for his suitcase and plopped it on the bed, opening it and stuffing the clothes on the floor into it as fast as possible. This was far different from the day he expected to have, but it was far better than any day he had in recent memory.

Meanwhile, Max’s clothes were already packed with the exception of his nightclothes, which he stuffed into his bag along with his phone charger. Unlocking his phone, he went to his contacts and found Bob’s name right away. As he pressed the call button, he held the phone to his ear with his shoulder and walked out of his hotel room and towards the elevator, room key in one hand and suitcase in the other. Bob picked up after one ring and answered with a “What happened?”

“Sharon’s coming for me,” Max answered quickly, pressing the elevator button. “And she’s about to come for Giovanni, too.”


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “You look great.” Gio found himself whispering, causing Miz Cracker to snicker.
> 
> “You’re one to talk.” she breathed. And she was. Miz Cracker swore that Aquaria was more beautiful of a woman than she could ever be. Her hair was black and slicked back into a ponytail longer than even Cracker’s hair. Her eyebrows were dark and high, and she was painted to look much more feminine than Cracker had expected. Her lips and eyes were accented with black, and she wore a black mesh gown that fell to the floor and clung to her boyish figure along the way. When the light hit her in the right way, the dress and her eyelids sparkled. She didn’t wear blush, but her contouring flattered cheekbones that Cracker hadn’t noticed when they were out of drag. Aquaria, in every sense of the word, was the definition of beauty to the blonde-haired woman, and Miz Cracker was the same for Aquaria.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It took me a whole week to re-outline and write this, but here she is! Thank you all so much for sending me messages and asks on tumblr about this fic and leaving kudos, it really means a lot! <3
> 
> As always, I don't own the characters in Hercules, and you can find me at whos-ornacia on tumblr! I post a few things here and there about what I'm thinking of and update y'all on this story :)

“Can I ask you something?

Giovanni looked down from the sky and back to Max, who was waiting expectantly. They were laying on the hood of Max’s car on the beach and staring at the sky, something he hadn’t indulged in since he was a child. “Sure.” he responded.

“What made you sell your soul to Sharon Needles?”

Gio sighed, remembering the phone call he’d received in his dorm room four years ago. “We’d been friends since I was like, fifteen. She noticed me on social media and she said she was always gonna keep an eye on me, and she did. When I was in college I had a breakdown and she called in the middle of it. She didn’t know what was going on, but she promised that if we made a deal then I wouldn’t feel that way again.”

Max didn’t visibly react, but he imagined a younger Giovanni shaking hands with the vision of Sharon he remembered. If he knew him then he would have tried to stop him. “Would you do it again?”

“Do what?” Gio tilted his head.

Before he could finish his trail of investigative thought, Bob’s voice called out to them.

“Is _this_ the pretty boy that sold Sharon out?!” She exclaimed, causing Gio to jump up while Max rose slowly. He’d had enough surprise for one day.

Bob walked over to him and extended her hand. “What’s your name?”

“A-Aquaria,” Gio grinned, shaking her hand when he got off of the car.

“Well thank you, Aquaria,” Bob replied. “As you probably guessed, I’m Bob-”

“Oh, I know!” Gio answered quickly. “I’ve… I won Look Queen last year!”

Bob scoffed. “Were you old enough to compete?”

“Nope!” Gio grinned proudly.

Bob rolled her eyes but smiled. “Of course you weren’t.”

“So what’s the plan?” Max asked, standing now. “I’ve got some friends in Seattle that can we can stay with.”

“That’s a great idea, but no,” Bob answered. “I’m bringing you up for a while.”

“Up?” Gio asked. “Up where?”

In the blink of an eye, the three of them were taken to what Gio assumed was the temple of the gods. He thought he would be in the ruins of an old temple at the top of a hill, staring at empty marble thrones that would represent each individual goddess. Instead of that, Giovanni saw a semi-circle made of greek columns that sat atop the pink clouds he was standing on and surrounded by. At the top of each column, a queen stood looking down at him and Max. When he looked at Max, he was nothing like the Miz Cracker he saw on Google Images. That Miz Cracker needed some work.

She was in a light blonde wig that looked bigger than her head, with large and structured waves that went to the dip of her back. She was in a pink dress lighter than the clouds, the skirt falling to her knees and sprinkled with silver glitter. The dress was embellished with a pink leather belt that matched her pink leather stilettos, and when he saw Miz Cracker’s face, the first thing he noticed were her eyes, still the same light brown, more beautiful than Gio had thought before. Her eyelids, cheeks and lips were all painted shades of pink, and her contour flattered more of Max’s already great bone structure. When she smiled at Gio the way Max smiled at him that morning, he swore he felt butterflies.

“You look great.” Gio found himself whispering, causing Miz Cracker to snicker.

“You’re one to talk.” she breathed. And she was. Miz Cracker swore that Aquaria was more beautiful of a woman than she could ever be. Her hair was black and slicked back into a ponytail longer than even Cracker’s hair. Her eyebrows were dark and high, and she was painted to look much more feminine than Cracker had expected. Her lips and eyes were accented with black, and she wore a black mesh gown that fell to the floor and clung to her boyish figure along the way. When the light hit her in the right way, the dress and her eyelids sparkled. She didn’t wear blush, but her contouring flattered cheekbones that Cracker hadn’t noticed when they were out of drag. Aquaria, in every sense of the word, was the definition of beauty to the blonde-haired woman, and Miz Cracker was the same for Aquaria.

“Alright, love birds!” Bob interrupted from the top of the temple, making some of the other goddesses laugh. “Let’s do a few introductions!” She looked to the other queens, who were looking back at her. “Now if you look in front of you,” she began in a voice that mocked every tour guide, “you’ll see that on your right is my incredible daughter Miz Cracker. She’s five-five out of drag, but she likes to be ta- really, Trixie?”

Before Cracker could wave, the goddess that was at Bob’s left - Cracker assumed it was Trixie - was running down the stairs at the end of the pillars faster than she’d seen anyone run. She was in a hot pink dress that barely touched the tops of her thighs and white cowgirl boots. Her straight blonde hair landed past her breasts and was topped with a light pink beret speckled with pearls. She spoke with a Valley-Girl accent and had a large smile on her face. When she got closer, Aquaria was convinced she looked like a clown.

“Oh my God, she’s so precious!” She shouted as she ran to Cracker, who was also surprised at the eye shape that Trixie had painted on, a large cat eye with a block of white under her eyes and hot pink eyeshadow that took nearly half of her face. She moved to hug Cracker tightly before letting go and squeezing her shoulders. “I’m Trixie, the descendant of Hera.” She let go of Cracker’s shoulders and dropped the accent, revealing a lower and faster voice. “Bob and I aren’t married. But if we were, _oh honey._ ” Trixie said, speaking those last words as if she was speaking in slow motion. “It would be a disaster.”

At that, Trixie turned to her left and saw Aquaria, who was looking at her with a raised brow. “And who is this beautiful creature?!”

“I-I…” she blushed. “Aquaria.” She extended her hand, but Trixie pulled her into a hug anyway.

“You are way too pretty to be hanging out with Sharon Needles.” Trixie said when she let go, returning to her feminine way of speaking. “Is she, like, sucking the youth out of you or something?” Trixie smiled then, and instantly Aquaria was overcome with the feeling of comfort in her body.

“Trixie,” Cracker asked then, causing her to turn. “what are you the goddess of?”

“Love and marriage!” She grinned. “Hera was the mother of the gods, but now I’m just the mom friend that makes sure everyone’s happy but me!” Trixie laughed then, causing both Cracker and Aquaria to look at her hesitantly. “Self-deprecating humor is my thing.”

“Oh.” Cracker and Aquaria both said slowly, causing Bob to laugh then.

“Anyways,” Bob interrupted their conversation. She was closer now, as well as the other goddesses. “This is Alexis, descendant of Poseidon.”

Bob motioned to her right and their left, where Alexis was in a strapless dress that looked like it was made of navy blue scales. In her right hand was a trident taller than Alexis herself.

“Oh my goodness, Bob,” Alexis spoke in what Aquaria recognized as a Puerto Rican accent. “they could be twins!” She looked at the both of them, then at Bob. “Very different twins. But still!” She moved forward to kiss each of them on the cheek. “So gorgeous, the both of you.”

Aquaria was grinning from ear to ear. She could get used to being littered with compliments from goddesses.

As if on cue, a light-skinned black woman walked around Alexis. She was covered head to toe in a blood red robe with gold embroidery that looked like roses, and her hair was the same shade of red.

“Alright, alright, enough with the love fest.” the woman said with a smoky voice. She had sharper cheekbones than the both of them, and her eyebrows and lips were outlined with liquid gold. “The Vixen, Goddess of War.” She shook Cracker’s hand and gave a gracious smile before turning to Aquaria, her face falling instantly. “I don’t trust you yet.” her eyes narrowed, “But I respect you.” She extended her hand, which Aquaria shook while nodding. She was unsure of how to respond, but had a feeling that she didn’t want to push her buttons.

Slowly Aquaria and Cracker made their way through each queen, some sticking out in their memories more than others. Miz Cracker was in awe of Chad Michaels, who was the descendant of Hermes but looked like the spitting image of Cher. When she introduced herself, she said she was the goddess of gypsies, tramps and thieves, causing both Cracker and Aquaria to laugh at the Cher reference. She also found herself drawn to Lashauwn Beyond, the goddess who made everyone’s weapons as well as gowns. She looked the most polished, with a black latex bodysuit covered with gold chains. When she met Miss Fame, descendant of Demeter, the chicken perched on her shoulder hopped to Cracker’s, and her two dachshunds, Mina and Shaya, were licking at Cracker’s feet, causing her to erupt with laughter from being tickled.

Aquaria herself was enchanted by Adore and Courtney, the equals of Apollo and Artemis, who looked nothing like twins but spoke as if in sync with each other. Aquaria was particularly drawn to Adore’s grunge aesthetic, looking tough and weathered in comparison to the extravagant gowns everyone else was wearing. When she introduced herself, she said she used to be the goddess of partying, but then she grew up and got a promotion. Courtney, in turn, spoke little, but she had an Australian accent that was steady but not monotonous. When she met Violet Chachki, her eyes nearly bugged out of her head as she ogled at the skimpy black lingerie she was wearing. She didn’t say exactly who she was the descendant of, but something hinted to Aquaria that it was Aphrodite.

“The Vixen didn’t like me either,” Violet breathed in Aquaria’s ear. “But you’ll grow on her. I know it.” When she walked to introduce herself to Cracker, she gave Aquaria a wink, and for a second she felt her heart rate increase.

Once everyone was introduced, Bob did a quick head count and furrowed her brow before realizing who was missing. “Willam! Jasmine!” She shouted, echoing throughout the temple and causing the clouds to shake slightly. When Aquaria almost fell, Cracker reached for her hand and caught her. She squeezed the shorter woman’s hand in gratitude, and the both of them heard Trixie practically scream with delight.

When the two of them let go, the goddesses they assumed were Willam and Jasmine appeared at their respective pillars, sitting in lawn chairs and drinking from silver flasks. The blonde was in a strappy denim bodysuit, and the dark-skinned woman had a sleek black bob and a lavender gown that draped across her chair.

“What?!” The blonde woman shouted.

Bob sighed. “Cracker, Aquaria, the one shouting is Willam.”

“Oh shit!” Willam shouted again, flashing away before reappearing closer to the mortals in the room. “These are the babies! They’re like little goddesses, aw!” She leaned down at Cracker, offering up her flask. “Want a sip?”

Cracker politely declined, afraid that she was some kind of trickster god, but Aquaria took the flask out of her hand, downing a gulp almost as fast as Willam could offer. Every goddess looked at her in shock, and Cracker turned to see that Aquaria was practically frozen.

“I like her.” Willam nodded, placing her arm on Bob’s shoulder to lean on it. “Is that Cracker?” she asked, pointing to a slightly dazed Aquaria.

“That’s Aquaria.”

“Oh, no wonder.” Willam smiled, getting off of Bob’s shoulder. When she snapped her fingers in front of Aquaria’s face, she came back to the present, nearly falling before Cracker jumped into action and caught her by both of her hands. “I always have fun with the bad ones.”

Aquaria looked down at Willam’s flask, then back up at her. “Have you thought about selling that?”

“Willam, do _not_ give that child any more of that juice!” The other woman that was Jasmine Masters walked towards them. Other goddesses parted where she marked her path, and immediately Cracker was intimidated.

Jasmine took the flask out of Willam’s hand and placed it in the same hand that held her own. Turning to Cracker and Aquaria, she spoke proudly: “My name is Jasmine Masters and I am the goddess of wisdom. Willam’s the goddess of a good time.”

“Actually,” Willam interrupted, “I’m the descendant of Dionysus, so I _am_ a good time, thank you.” 

* * *

 

After spending nearly the entire night asking questions and listening with curiosity, Aquaria, now Giovanni, was lying awake in the room made for him in the temple. There was no problem with the room; the temperature of the temple, according to Trixie, accommodated to each person’s preference, so he had no problem with feeling cold. The mattress was the most comfortable thing he had laid down on in years, so he should have fallen asleep quickly, but he was kept up with the thought of Sharon calling his phone, which was still in a dumpster, and Betty and Thorgy going on a goose chase for their wild Aquaria. He wanted to feel bad, knowing Sharon had given him everything, but he didn’t. If the goddesses were right, Sharon wasn’t doing a good job at being goddess of the underworld at all. For a moment she wondered if part of that was her fault, but the other queens assured her it wasn’t before she could even speak it. That was nice to know, but she had a lot of feelings that she needed to go through, and maybe, just maybe, one person would be awake to listen to him.

Grabbing the black hoodie that laid next to him on the bed, Gio sat up and put the jacket on before he got off of the bed and left, walking down the hallway towards Miz Cracker’s room when he saw Max doing the same thing. He jumped when he saw Gio in front of him, shirtless again under his hoodie. He ogled at his marble-white skin, finally seeing it up close. “Hi.” Max said, looking up at the taller man. “I was just about to go to your room.”

“Can’t sleep either?”

Max shook his head. “Did… did you want to sleep in mine?”

“No, I-” Gio stopped, realizing that Max himself was shirtless, and he definitely had more muscles than he expected. “I wanted to know if you wanted to, uh, go outside with me. Look at the stars and whatnot.”

Max smiled softly for a moment and nodded. “Yeah. Let’s go.”

They made their way through the hallways silently, in fear they’d wake up anyone else if they spoke. The light of the moon through the windows guided their way, much brighter than it was on Earth.

When they’d reached the front of the temple where they’d first arrived, Max started to go on the path down the stairs, but Gio caught his hand, making him turn around.

“No!” He whispered. “I have a better idea.”

At that, Giovanni led them to the end of the hallway at their left, where Trixie had walked down the stairs to greet them earlier. He still didn’t let go of Max’s hand when they walked up the stairs to the roof of the building, careful not to step on any of the markers that showed where each goddess stood (or sat in a lawn chair). Once they reached Bob’s spot, Gio looked to his right and found the answer he was looking for: the roof that was just above them earlier.

Max watched Gio’s eyes light up as he pranced a few feet away and took the blanket out of his arms to unfold it. _Man,_ Max thought, _I wish we had an air mattress or -_

Before he could finish the thought, a mattress appeared on the roof with them, set with two pillows on top of it. Gio turned to look at him then, his jaw dropped as far as it could go.

“Did you do this?!” He shout-whispered.

“I guess?” Max spoke as quietly as he could. “I was just thinking about it and before I could finish it’s here.”

“Do it again,” Gio urged as he made his way to the other side of the mattress. “But with like, something different.”

Max walked to his presumed end of the mattress, trying to think of something as he lifted the white blanket that Gio had unfolded. It felt like cashmere. “I… I don’t know what else I could want.” He admitted. “What do you want?”

Gio wanted to kiss him for merely saying that, but he held back and looked at the clouds. “I don’t know,” he shrugged. “Maybe like the clouds to clear or something.”

At his command, the clouds had parted, revealing a sky made of stars that looked like the glitter in Miz Cracker’s dress earlier. His eyes widened at the sight; there were more stars than he had seen in his life. Max looked up at him and smiled. Throughout the day Giovanni had been collected and cool, despite stuttering in a few moments and looking flustered when he was talking to the goddesses. This was a new side of Giovanni, one he would learn that he only showed when he was comfortable.

“Did you do that too?” Gio asked excitedly, pointing at the sky.

Max shook his head. “Honest to God - Gods, I mean - I was only staring at you.”

Gio looked at the stars again. He wasn’t necessarily convinced that Max was telling the truth; he did just make a mattress appear.

As he climbed in and made his place next to Max, it had hit him how long the day had been. Normally when he hadn’t slept he was irritable and tough to get along with, and he’d thought he’d be that way now, but as he stared up at the stars again, he’d felt more comfortable than he had in years, and Gio even found himself yawning despite it being impossible to sleep downstairs.

“Didn’t you just say you couldn’t sleep?” Max chuckled lightly.

Giovanni turned to him. “Yeah, but now I’m like really exhausted. I didn’t sleep last night.”

Max’s eyes widened, activating his mom-friend instincts. “Okay, what? You need to sleep, it’s like two in the morning.”

“I know, I know.” Gio responded, sounding more bratty than he’d liked. “But I want to stay up here and I don’t want to be alone.”

Max’s brow furrowed. “Why?”

“Because,” Gio tilted his head up. “Sharon could come for me at any minute.”

“Giovanni, look at me.”

He turned to Max, who was wearing a serious look on his face as he laid on his side. “She doesn’t even know where you are. You said she was going to Michigan, right?”

Gio nodded.

“That buys you a good amount of time, and even then she doesn’t know that I’m the cracker she’s looking for.”

“But she always _knows_ , Max.” He found his voice breaking then. “She always finds a way and she’s going to find me.” He took as deep of a breath as he could, trying to find some kind of center before he heard Max mumble a _come here_ and felt arms wrap around him, and then he fell apart. His breath was trembling while he wrapped his own arms around Max and tears made their way down his cheeks, but soon he felt Max’s hands on his back. He focused on those hands, dancing down his jacket, then his cologne, then the feeling of his shoulder under his forehead. Soon after that, he stopped squinting his eyes and felt the inevitable headache that came from crying.

“Hey.” Max said as soon as he felt Gio’s breathing regulate.

Gio opened his eyes, realizing his head was still on Max’s shoulder. “Shit, I’m sorry.” He said, leaning back to get out of the hug.

“No, don’t be sorry. It’s been a lot for you.” Max paused as he watched Gio wipe away one last tear with his finger. “But listen: as long as I’m here, nothing is going to happen to you. If Sharon Needles comes in on her chariot like everyone says she is, I am going to knock her out of this goddamn temple before she could even say ‘Boo.’”

Gio tilted his head then. “You’d really do that?”

“Absolutely,” Max breathed. “Now come here and go to sleep.”

Gio moved back to Max, who had turned to lay on his stomach but still face him, and curled into his side. It had been a while since he had slept in a bed with another person, but he was convinced that this would be the best sleep he’d gotten in a while, and not just because he’d been up for two days.


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “D-did you take these yesterday?” He looked up at Max, still holding the camera.
> 
> “Yeah, I did.” Max exhaled. “I can delete them-”
> 
> “No, no,” He trailed, looking again until he found his favorite, the one where he was looking up at the sky, his cigarette smoke lingering in the air. “I love them.”
> 
> “Wait, really?”
> 
> “Yeah! These are, like, really good.”
> 
> “I… I don’t know what to say.” Max walked closer to him when he realized they were a few feet apart. “I just thought you’d hate them.”
> 
> Gio shook his head, blushing as he looked at the photos more. “You are so fucking talented, you don’t even know.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> She's up! This chapter is just a bit shorter than the others, but I love her just the same. I know I said I have 13 chapters, but it'll more than likely be more than that just because this chapter is explaining the plot further. :)
> 
> Also, I just posted my Hercules!Miz Cracker aesthetic and playlist on my tumblr, whos-ornacia! I wanted the playlist to sound like a mixtape she'd make for Aquaria, so let me know what you think when you hear it! It's on spotify <3
> 
> As always, I don't own the characters of Hercules, hence why the plot is completely different than the movie.

Max woke up a few hours later with Giovanni curled into his side. He didn’t know how or when they got from the roof of the temple to his bedroom, but the blanket Giovanni brought earlier was still on them, and the sky was no longer dark. Pink and yellow light filtered through the clouds and into Max’s window as he rolled over, trying not to disturb the other man in his bed. When he made the effort to sit up, the blanket fell and revealed his pale skin and lean physique. To a lot of people his muscles were a surprise, but if they knew he had a black belt in martial arts, he was sure they’d understand.

As soon as he got off of the bed, he heard another rustle and turned to find Gio sprawling on the bed, snuggling his face closer to Max’s pillow. He smiled to himself as he walked to the window before coming up with a novel idea. He walked back to his camera bag, which was on top of a vanity a few feet away, and unzipped it to reveal his camera which he had charged the night before. When he returned to the window with his camera he saw that it was still on the picture of Giovanni it had died on. It was hard to believe it had been 24 hours since meeting the man currently in his bed, but it was just his luck that so much would happen on the last day of his vacation. He got more than the answers he wanted, and at the moment he was okay with it. Turning the camera back to shooting mode, he got some snaps of the sunrise. He couldn’t wait to tell his mother the journey he had gone through just to get those shots. He looked at them again, in awe of his own work before he heard Gio rustle again and groan.

“Do you always take pictures of the sun?” He asked in a raspy voice. When Max turned around, he was laying on his back with his arms over his eyes.

“No.” Max yawned.

“Then what else do you take pictures of?”

He shrugged. “Drag shows, life in New York, some portraits.”

Gio sat up in the bed. “Can I look?”

Max hesitated, then handed the camera over when Gio was standing and closer to him.

Gio pressed the forward button on the camera, taking him to the very beginning of the SD card. As he looked through, he saw pictures of crowded streets, people licking ice cream behind a window, different drag shows, and one woman that kept showing up over and over again. She was an older woman with short grey hair and wire-rimmed glasses, and she was short like Max too. Without asking, he knew that this was Max’s mother, who was losing her sight more and more as the days went by. He clicked on and saw Max and his mother at Thanksgiving, by a Hanukkah menorah, what looked like a wedding, and sitting in front of a birthday cake with 5 candles on it, a young Max and his mother with longer hair looking back at each other. He smiled to himself and kept scrolling while he paced a few feet away from Max. He didn’t show another reaction until he saw himself several photos later, when his jaw dropped.

“D-did you take these yesterday?” He looked up at Max, still holding the camera.

“Yeah, I did.” Max exhaled. “I can delete them-”

“No, no,” He trailed, looking again until he found his favorite, the one where he was looking up at the sky, his cigarette smoke lingering in the air. “I love them.”

“Wait, really?”

“Yeah! These are, like, really good.”

“I… I don’t know what to say.” Max walked closer to him when he realized they were a few feet apart. “I just thought you’d hate them.”

Gio shook his head, blushing as he looked at the photos more. “You are so fucking talented, you don’t even know.”

Max’s face spoke volumes about how confused he was. “I, thank you?”

Gio looked up at him and grinned sweetly. He’d spent hours the day before looking at Miz Cracker’s lip syncs, in awe of her ability to turn out every single song she did and make crowds of people laugh with her jokes. He’d read some of his writings both as himself and Miz Cracker, and he was floored by his skill and attention to detail while writing as if he were in a conversation with the reader. Now that he’d seen some of his pictures, he was so glad he had met an artist like Max, someone who had talents that Gio had, and some he wished he had.

He turned the camera then to shooting mode, his smile turning into a smirk as he lifted the camera to take pictures of Max, whose shock at the previous statement turned into an embarrassed smile.

“Oh, come on!” Max rolled his eyes, laughing as he heard the camera snap away.

“No, I wanna take pictures of you!” Gio replied, leaning to get photos at different angles. “Ooh, I like that one!”

Max looked at Gio, who was squatting down at his right and still snapping photos. “God, I hope I don’t look that ridiculous.”

The younger man smiled and stood up to get a few more shots before Max launched himself towards the camera. Without hesitating, Gio raised one arm towards the ceiling, the camera in hand his eyes locked on Max’s, now inches from his own. The smiles and laughter fell from their faces as soon as they realized how close they were. It didn’t take long for Max to realize that he was staring at Gio’s lips, and that his dark brown eyes were on his.

When he looked back up, he saw Gio lowering his hand to place the camera on the windowsill in his peripheral vision. His main focus was on Gio’s face, his eyes steadfast on Maxwell and lips ajar.

Max released the breath he was holding with a chuckle. “I don’t want to sound weird, but can I kiss you right now?”

“You do sound weird, but go for it.” Gio spoke softly. If Max concentrated, he could feel Gio’s breath ghost over his lips. 

_ That smug son of a bitch _ , Max thought as he closed the gap between them, pulling Gio’s lower lip between his own and closing his eyes.

Giovanni had been kissed by many people in his life, but Max was probably the most romantic kisser he had experienced. Even with permission Max was careful, kissing him with both passion and a softness that Gio could only describe as feeling like feathers. Max pulled back for a second, trying to restrain himself before giving in and leaving two shorter kisses on Gio’s lips, causing butterflies to flip in the younger man’s stomach. When Max pulled back further, his eyes searched for something in Gio’s that looked like approval. Giovanni smirked then, biting his lower lip lightly as he tilted his body to lean against the windowsill. He blushed and glanced at the ceiling for a few moments, letting out giggles before looking back to Max, who was wearing a confident smile of his own and his arms folded across his chest.

Max didn’t have enough time to react to Gio leaning down again and pulling him in, but he swore he saw stars when he felt Giovanni’s hand caress the back of his head and take the kiss into his own hands. He was an eager kisser, something Max hadn’t expected considering the kiss the day before, but he swung his arms around Gio’s neck once his hand moved from tracing his his jaw to holding his waist, another hand following shortly after. Max kissed back with just as much force, causing Gio to moan softly, but he knew he was the submissive one when Gio’s tongue slid against his lips and he let his mouth fall open to let the other man tongue him without hesitation.

They were only making out for what felt like three seconds before they were interrupted by the slam of something falling to the floor. The two of them held onto each other without thinking and turned to see who the intruder was: it was The Vixen, this time in a short teal wig and a dress with a skirt made of peacock feathers. She inspected the damage of the door with a smile until she looked up and saw the compromising position Max and Gio were in.

“Didn’t y’all just meet yesterday?” The Vixen asked with a cocky grin.

“Yes but why did you kick the door down?” Max asked, moving out of Gio’s arms while the other only let his arms fall.

“Well, this one wasn’t in his room,” she motioned to Gio, “so I thought he kidnapped you or something. You didn’t hear me kick that door down either?”

The both of them shook their heads simultaneously, causing the Vixen to cackle.

“Y’all just get in drag and meet me at the front in 10 minutes.” She grinned. “And don’t be late.”

“But we don’t have anything to get into drag.” Max pointed out.

“Y’all should have your powers by now.” Vixen shrugged. “But even if you don’t, I’ll let you two, uh… get dressed.” She laughed again as she strutted down the hallway, the door rising up and into its hinges as the clicks of her heels faded into silence.

When they were sure she was gone, Max and Gio broke the silence with laughter that made Gio’s cheeks hurt from smiling and Max feel sore in his stomach a few minutes later.

* * *

Sharon was an image to see by The Lansing Hotel pool. In a room with nothing but dim lights of the room and outside of the windows lighting her, she was sitting in a cheap lawn chair in full drag. Her white hair was curled and in a large ponytail at the top of her head, and the sleeves and skirt of her black dressing gown draped over the arms of the chair. Underneath that gown, she was wearing a corset encrusted in black jewels. She looked far too elaborate for the place she was in, but in her world, that was the way she liked it.

No one else was at the pool except for Betty and Thorgy wrestling in the water, so Sharon basked in the alone time. She’d given up on texting and calling Aquaria a long time ago, once she’d realized her phone was still turned off after 12 hours. Betty assured her that she must have lost her phone, but Thorgy’s worries danced a waltz across her mind.  _ What if I find her waiting for me when I’m back at the underworld? What if she’s been kidnapped? I can’t call the fates, I only have a limit of one call a week; what if she needs me?  _ Before her thoughts could make another effortless turn on the dance floor, a more sinister thought came into her head, one that stopped the dance entirely.

“Hey guys?” Sharon called them, looking up to see Betty and Thorgy racing to see how many laps they could swim. When she called again, this time louder, they seemed to be ignoring her. Sharon sighed, leaning back into her chair. She didn’t want to do this, but it was the only way to get their attention. She looked at the lights in the room and lifted her arm to let her elbow rest on the chair, watching as the lights suddenly became brighter. When she snapped her fingers , they all popped simultaneously, leaving the ones in the pool on to cast shadows on Betty and Thorgy’s figures. Sharon watched them squirm to get out of the pool in their coordinating black bikinis and walk as fast as possible to her. Before anyone else could come in, she put her hand to the side of her face and the lights were all back to normal, no trace of explosion in sight.

“Is-is-is everything all right?” Betty asked while shivering.

Sharon sighed, answering nonchalantly. “Do you think Gio left me for that neighbor boy in that hotel?”

“Is that what all that was about?” Betty asked.

“Yeah,” Sharon looked off, watching Thorgy go and get towels for her and Betty. “I’m concerned.”

Thorgy sighed and called to Sharon as she took the towels off the rack: “I know I’m panicky, but I highly doubt that.” She walked back to them, handing a towel to Thorgy. “You’ve given him the world! What does that boy have that you don’t?”

“Sex appeal, for one.” Betty retorted, causing both of their heads to snap around to her. “What? He looks at you like a mother, he’s not gonna find you attractive, sorry.”

“Okay,” Sharon acknowledged. “But I’m really afraid. What if this guy, this stranger that she just met, made some proposition that he was going to make her a mainstream star?” She turned to Thorgy then, a glint of curiosity in her eye. “You said he told Gio he was a photographer?”

Thorgy nodded. “I think he said he was a writer, too?”

Sharon pursed her lips and unlocked her phone, going to the internet. “And you probably didn’t get a name.”

“No, we didn’t.”

Betty then hit Thorgy on the arm, causing her to yelp in pain. “Sorry,” she muttered in reference to her arm. “but we did! His name was Max something… Max Hecker? Heiffer?”

“Heller!” Thorgy exclaimed. “Max Heller.”

Without thanking them, Sharon typed “max heller writer” into the search function, waiting for articles written by him to pop up once the data decided to cooperate with her.

“Why do you ask?” Thorgy said then, interrupting Sharon’s train of thought.

“Be-cause,” Sharon began, “if he’s a writer, he’s bound to have articles written somewhere on the internet.” She scrolled past a few ads once the page loaded before the title of the first real article caused her to widen her eyes and tighten her grip on the phone. She snapped her gaze up to Betty and Thorgy, whose own reactions to Sharon’s hair and ends of her gown turning bright red were full of fear. “Tell me why the first result I see when I look up his name…” she paused, gritting her teeth, “is  _ Miz Cracker. _ ”

“Aw, Jesus.” Thorgy mumbled. “We gotta apologize to Dida, don’t we?”

Sharon nodded slowly, breathing heavily through her nose. “We  _ definitely _ need to apologize to Dida.”

Before Betty and Thorgy could say a word in protest, Sharon transported them back to the realm of the dead, where none other than Bob The Drag Queen, The Vixen and Jasmine Masters were waiting for her. Bob was in a glimmering copper gown and sitting in her chair,  _ her chair _ , where she was supposed to be sitting and overlooking the swimming pool of the dead with an endearing smile. Instead, she and the other goddesses glared at her with disdain.

“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” Bob asked her, standing up to reveal her gown falling to the floor.

“Bob, I know what you’re thinking-” Sharon started.

“No you don’t.”

“Okay, I don’t.” She grinned nervously. “You’re right.”

“You killed Dida Ritz before it was her time to go!” The Vixen spoke bitterly. “I don’t get what you think is so funny that you’re up here smiling.”

“Okay you know what-” Betty strode past Sharon and towards The Vixen before Thorgy and Sharon went into protection mode, grabbing Betty by the arms and waist to hold her back from attacking. 

“You think you can  **_take me_ ** ?” The Vixen’s voice raised and echoed at her last words, causing the rock walls of the underworld to shake. She strode forward from the chair to the three of them, her hair and gown becoming animated with blue flames that had heat but did not burn her. “ **_I am war, bitch._ ** ” 

Before she could get too close, Bob shot her a look of discontent that froze her movement while Betty shouted empty threats and taunts at the goddess. When her flames started to simmer, Bob kept her in that position but turned back to the villains in front of her. “Listen,” she looked specifically to Betty. “You may be the personification of pain, but if you try your petty shit I’m not gonna stop her again. You know you’re not gonna win, so calm down.”

Betty responded by trying to spit in Bob’s face, but Bob saw what was coming and moved to Sharon while laughing, letting the spit fall to the floor. “You better watch out for her before someone makes her disappear.”

Sharon rolled her eyes. They’d already gone through that song and dance. “Where’s Dida now?”

“Back at her house.” Jasmine chimed in, her voice emotionless. She was in a cloak of white that covered any inkling of what she was wearing underneath “Basically we cleaned up your mess and apologized too. You’re welcome.”

“How did you even know we killed her?” Thorgy asked genuinely.

“Honey, we get calls from The Fates just as much as you do.”

Thorgy tilted her head then, her locs moving with her. “You probably get more, if we’re being honest, because-”

“I’m gonna stop you right there because we have shit to do.” Bob interrupting, causing Thorgy to narrow her eyes at her. “Come on.”

The six of them transported to the temple of the gods, leaving the lake of souls without a guardian that they knew of. When they gave each other an all clear, four people emerged from different hallways and met at the lake.


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gio felt every string holding his heart breaking and every bit of thread holding it in place falling when Max looked at him like that. He didn’t want to leave, not when he’d felt more accomplished than he had in years, but there he was, leaving again. He’d been told he ran away too quickly before, by boys in bars he’d fought to perform just a year before, but he told himself he ran because he didn’t want them. Now, far away from the bars and the younger boys in New York, here was a man too old for him in a world where everything logical was thrown out of the window, and he was running again. Part of him - his Sabatina, he once called her - had been telling him to stay ever since he realized he had to go. She told him he was being unreasonable, that no one would love him if he made this decision and that Max would never look at him again. But seeing the smile on his face, he knew that they would be together again, and that if he stayed, they’d be together in death. He couldn’t do that to Max, and he couldn’t do it to the goddesses that had invested so much in them. That’s when his Sabatina stopped talking: this was the right decision, and Max was the right one to make it for.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all SO MUCH for your patience and love on this fic!! It makes me so happy to see.
> 
> Also, we finally get a snippet into Trixie and Katya's relationship in this fic which makes me really excited. It's v v angsty.
> 
> I just posted Aquaria's Hercules AU aesthetic and playlist, which can be found on my tumblr! For some reason my notifications and stuff are all acting weird, but I should have a Trixie one soon.
> 
> And last announcement: in light of the reunion (#TeamVixen), I'm really thinking about writing a prequel fic about how The Vixen became the goddess of war! I love her character in this fic and I really feel like we need more queens of color in the fanfiction world. It probably won't be a romance if I'm being honest, so let me know what you think! Do you want more stories from this AU?
> 
> As always, I don't own the characters in Hercules, but I hope you're all having a great day!

Miz Cracker was a natural fighter. She had a fifth degree black belt in martial arts and had been practicing for nearly two decades, so training with Adore and Katelyn was relatively easy. Every punch and kick Katelyn threw she blocked, and when she felt cornered she would gracefully counter, sending Katelyn further than their original starting point. Aquaria and Monet were fairly impressed, but the real moment of awe was when Adore tossed Katelyn a dagger and Cracker grabbed it in the middle of using Katelyn’s shoulder as a launchpad to flip above her. When she landed, she faced Katelyn in a proper front stance and tossed the dagger from her left to her right hand. As a result of this, Monet screamed and grabbed Aquaria’s arm, who was jumping up and down in excitement, her eyes solely on Miz Cracker in awe. After a loud “Holy shit!”, Adore repeated that Miz Cracker couldn’t be trained, but Katelyn looked at Cracker, smiled and shook her hand, saying something about how that was the start of a great friendship. And all Miz Cracker could do was smile, embarrassed by how much attention she was getting for her fighting skills, but proud of how far she’d come since practicing as a teenager.

But that moment was hours ago, and now Max, Kevin, Gio and Katelyn were all locked away in a hidden room inside the temple. The room was like Max and Gio’s bedrooms, except there was no furniture and the room lacked windows. When Adore rushed them in, she pressed a finger to the wall closest to her and the walls gleamed with blue light. When Gio asked what it was, she quickly answered “Protection charm. Stay quiet!” and closed the door as fast as she could. Without hesitating, Max made four wooden chairs apparate in front of them and sat down, Kevin and Katelyn following suit. Max looked at Gio, waiting for him to come and sit with them, but he paced the room, focused on trying to hear what was going on outside. Adore said they already had their powers, hence why Miz Cracker could make chairs appear, but Gio remembered Sharon saying you could hear other goddesses, so Gio tried. He had a feeling that the four of them were hidden because Sharon was on her way, and he was afraid that the time where Sharon would overtake the temple was now. He pressed his eyes closed so hard that he could see colors and patterns, thinking  _ please let me hear something _ before sighing against the wall, letting himself slide down. He looked up at the ceiling and its iridescent light dancing before he heard Sharon’s voice amid several, one he knew as The Vixen’s. He snapped his eyes shut, trying to hear what she was saying, while Max, Kevin and Katelyn took note of the voices they were hearing.

 

“ **Everybody shut up!** ” Chad boomed, making everyone turn to look at her. “I can’t believe that still works.” She smiled softly, walking closer to Sharon, who was standing in the middle of the clouds in front of the temple. “Girl, what the hell were you thinking?” She asked, her smile falling from her face.

“What do you think I was thinking? The Fates said the name was Cracker so I went for Dida Ritz. What more do you need to know?”

“You killed her, Sharon.”

“She’s alive  _ now _ , isn’t she?”

Chad rolled her eyes and crossed her arms. “You’re never gonna learn, are you?”

Sharon’s eyes narrowed and her lips formed into a smirk. “Not if you’re teaching.”

At that Chad walked off, clearly annoyed. “How can you be so stubborn?”

Sharon turned her attention to Bob then, her eyes wider but still wearing a smirk. “Well now that Dida’s alive and everything’s just dandy, can you tell me where Miz Cracker is?”

Every goddess in the room eyed each other suspiciously, and in the hidden room of the temple, Giovanni’s eyes snapped open and caught onto Max, who was looking straight at him. Kevin and Katelyn’s eyes were also on Max. “How does she know?” Max mouthed to Gio.

Back outside, Bob kept her cool. “How do you know I’m making Miz Cracker my replacement?”

“Well I didn’t know, so thank you!” She grinned while the other goddesses let out deep sighs and groans. “But I’m asking because I’m pretty convinced  _ your  _ drag daughter is with my baby Gio.”

“And how do you kn-” The Vixen started defensively before Bob cut her off.

“I got this.” Bob said to her before turning back to Sharon. “What makes you think Cracker’s with Aquaria?”

Sharon sighed. “They met at a hotel yesterday and ever since then I can’t find her.”

“Sharon, I haven’t even told Cracker I want her to replace me yet.” Bob shrugged.

“You haven’t?” Sharon raised an eyebrow.

“Nope. She hasn’t done drag in years, so when I tell her I have to, like, coax her into it, you know? Like bringing a puppy to drink from a water bowl.”

In the room where Max was, he laughed once before putting a hand over his mouth.

“So you haven’t spoken to her?” Sharon asked.

“Not recently.” Bob shook her head.

“I don’t think I believe you.” Sharon lifted her chin.

“Well, it doesn’t matter what you think, ‘cause I’m telling the truth. But when I do tell her I can ask if she knows him. What’s his name again-”

“Giovanni Palandrani. Date of birth February 12, 1996. About 5’9”, thin and black hair.” She cut him off. “And no eyebrows.”

“You made him shave off his eyebrows?” Willam asked while Miss Fame put her hand to her temples.

“No, that was all her.” Sharon admitted.

“Sharon, I hate to tell you this ‘cause it’s me talking,” The Vixen began, “but I think you’re overreacting.”

Inside, nearly everyone had some expression of shock and confusion. “Didn’t The Vixen just say she didn’t like her?” Kevin asked.

“Yesterday and this morning.” Katelyn pointed out before listening to The Vixen continue.

“If your boy is anything like you said, why would he leave you for somebody average?” Vixen went on. 

Miz Cracker cocked an eyebrow at that statement. If she had been there to see the flip she’d done to grab Katelyn’s dagger earlier, she wouldn’t be saying that.

“But Bob said she’s her replacement-” Sharon tried to explain before The Vixen cut her off.

“Miz Cracker doesn’t know that yet. Why would she be so eager to tell people she’s a drag queen if she doesn’t know she needs to go back into it? She probably doesn’t even think she was good in the first place, so it doesn’t make sense for him to be running off with someone he just met yesterday.”

“What else am I supposed to think, Vixen?” Sharon asked. “That it’s all a big coincidence?”

Courtney was the first one to nod and say “Yeah.” softly, and soon after all of the goddesses nodded and muttered in agreement.

“But you all don’t get it!” Sharon exclaimed. “I told her a long time ago that she couldn’t have friends cause I didn’t want her to get invested in someone and then when she becomes immortal she has to watch their soul linger on until the end of time.”

There was an awkward silence until Jasmine chimed in. “You told her she what now?”

Sharon hesitated. “That she shouldn’t have friends?”

“That she would be immortal.”

“Oh.” Sharon said. “I didn’t word it that way.”

“Don’t lie to me.”

“Okay maybe I did word it that way. But I swear she didn’t even think about it until I brought it up. I told her she’d be a goddess.”

“Because you’re preparing for war to kill all of us?” Jasmine nodded.

“I don’t want to kill any of you!” Sharon admitted, disappointed they already knew about her plan. “I just want you to surrender so I can have everything I’ve ever wanted.”

Bob chuckled then. “You know it’s not gonna be easy.”

“I’m aware.” Sharon’s tone changed. It was sharper, clearer.

“Well, out of sympathy for you losing your kid, since you want to fight how about we settle this in about two months? Gives you enough time to find him, enough time for me to work with Miz Cracker, and then we can settle this fairly.”

Sharon stayed silent, pondering the proposal. “One month.”

Bob smiled, knowing her “bargain” would fool Sharon. “Works for me.”

 

Inside the protected room, Max was listening to the other queens before he heard a sigh in the room. It was Giovanni, who was walking towards the empty chair across from Max. “I have to go back.” he said as he sat down, leaning forward to put his head in his hands.

“What? No you don’t.” Max responded. “You can stay here with us.”

Gio looked up at Max, who was now kneeling in front of him to meet his pleading eyes.

“I can’t, though. Imagine the heartbreak Sharon would get seeing me on the other side waiting for her.”

“What does she matter, Giovanni? You left everything behind.” Kevin said, trying to reason with the younger man.

“I can’t let her think I know you. If she finds out that I lied, and that Bob lied, she’s gonna come at us and we’re not ready. Well, Cracker is, but we need more time.”

“What do you mean we’re not ready?” Katelyn asked. “Who is she bringing?”

“I’m not sure, but do you remember when everyone was freaking out that Katya went missing a few months ago?”

Katelyn immediately stood up and leaned down next to Cracker. “She didn’t.”

“She did.” Giovanni replied while Katelyn sighed and stood again.

“Can someone fill me in? What happened to Katya?” Kevin asked.

“She’s a Titan.” Katelyn answered flatly. “The Titans that are prophecied to bring down Zeus. How in the hell did she manage that?”

“Roxxxy too.” Gio added. “Katya, Roxxxy, Detox and Alaska.”

“You know, Alaska doesn’t surprise me.” Kevin responded thoughtfully.

“I don’t know how she got them, but I know I have to go.” Gio repeated.

“What if something happens to you?” Max asked, placing a hand on Gio’s knee. “I told you I wouldn’t let you get hurt and if you do I’m not going to live with myself.”

“Don’t worry.” Gio smiled, standing up. “I’ll find a way. I always do.”

Max was still on his knees, nervously looking up at Giovanni. “Are you sure?”

“Nope!” He smiled again, reaching a hand down to help Max stand. “But I’d rather sacrifice myself than have you act a fool for me.”

“That’s… actually really sweet.” Max sighed. “And there’s absolutely nothing I can do that’ll stop you?”

“Nope.”

“Not even if I told you I was in love with you?”

“Wait,  _ what _ ?” Katelyn asked while Kevin leaned in to try and meet Max’s eyes.

“What?” Gio asked quickly after.

“What?” Max shook his head for a moment, zoning out to stare at the floor before the silence got too awkward. “I’m not, I mean, we just met.”

“But you were trying to get me to stay.” Gio smiled softly. “I get that.”

Max internally sighed. He didn’t like getting caught up in the moment, but he couldn’t help it when he was around the younger man, and he couldn’t understand why. “At least I tried?” He smiled softly, peering at Gio through his eyelashes.

Gio felt every string holding his heart breaking and every bit of thread holding it in place falling when Max looked at him like that. He didn’t want to leave, not when he’d felt more accomplished than he had in years, but there he was, leaving again. He’d been told he ran away too quickly before, by boys in bars he’d fought to perform just a year before, but he told himself he ran because he didn’t want them. Now, far away from the bars and the younger boys in New York, here was a man too old for him in a world where everything logical was thrown out of the window, and he was running again. Part of him - his  _ Sabatina, _ he once called her - had been telling him to stay ever since he realized he had to go. She told him he was being unreasonable, that no one would love him if he made this decision and that Max would never look at him again. But seeing the smile on his face, he knew that they would be together again, and that if he stayed, they’d be together in death. He couldn’t do that to Max, and he couldn’t do it to the goddesses that had invested so much in them. That’s when his Sabatina stopped talking: this was the right decision, and Max was the right one to make it for.

It took a while for Gio to realize Max had been holding his hand since he’d helped him get up, but when he did, he gave it a firm squeeze before kissing him on the cheek again. “You know you promised nothing was going to happen to me?”

Max nodded.

“I’m making the same promise to you.” He leaned forward again to kiss Max on the lips, who immediately surged forward and gave him a kiss with more passion than the one that morning. As they kissed, they heard Kevin mumble, “He hasn’t kissed anyone like that in years.”

They pulled apart, their eyes still locked on each other. Max could feel his eyes drying out and his chest feeling heavy.  _ Please make this quick before I start crying _ , Max thought to himself.

“I’ll be back.” He smiled and took Max’s hands into his own before closing his eyes and disappearing in the blink of an eye. Max’s hands lingered in the air, focused on the feel of the other man’s hands before he dropped them to his sides. He looked at the floor, feeling like the temperature in the room had dropped by 20 degrees, and his stomach had dropped in his body.

When he turned to look at Katelyn and Kevin, his eyes were glossy despite the smile he was trying to wear. When he felt a tear roll down his face, Kevin pulled Max into a hug as he sobbed into his shirt. He’d seen Max like this before, over things in his life that were beyond his control in the years they’d known each other, but he’d never cried over a man for as long as he knew him.

“I’m sorry,” Max said when he forced himself out of Kevin’s hug. “I shouldn’t be crying over this.”

“And here you are.” Kevin smiled softly. “Do you really think he’ll be back?”

At that moment Katelyn pursed her lips and nodded. “He’ll definitely be back.”

“What makes you think so?” Max asked her, curious.

“With the way he looked at you?”  She smiled at him knowingly. “There’s no way he isn’t.”

* * *

Max jumped up in the middle of the night, woken by a knock on his door. After Sharon had left and Adore came to get them, no one had bothered Max for the rest of the day, assuming he was in too bad of shape to continue training. But now, several hours of staring at Giovanni’s pictures and crying later, someone was at his door, and he highly doubted it was Giovanni, but it didn’t stop him from hoping.

He got off of the bed when the person knocked again, putting on the shirt he had from earlier that day that was laying on the bed. He was known for being neat, but everything that had happened reduced him to a mess, especially after Giovanni left. Normally he’d be very concerned that he was wearing a shirt he’d worn before, but it was late and someone woke him while he was sleeping. He didn’t have time to care.

When he opened the door, he half expected to see Kevin or Katelyn in front of him, checking on him, but instead Trixie stood in his doorway with a large and ruffled hot pink robe that reminded Max of a loofah. Beneath it was a sequined pink dress that was as short as the dress she wore the day before, and she was wearing clear plastic heels with thick platforms, making her even taller than she already was. He looked up to her and saw her eyes were covered with thick, rhinestoned sunglasses. It was the most “drag” look Max could think of, and he absolutely loved it.

“Is this what you wear when you go to sleep?” Max asked without hesitation, thinking later that that wasn’t exactly how to greet the goddess of love.

“I hate to break it to you, but it’s only 9 P.M.” Trixie chuckled, raising her sunglasses to sit perfectly at the crown of her large blonde hair, styled into a bouffant that reminded Max of Priscilla Presley. “How long have you been in here?”

“I…” Max thought about it for a moment. “Since Gio-” he stopped himself; it didn’t feel right to call him that. “Giovanni left.”

Trixie sighed. She knew exactly what Max was feeling ever since Katya disappeared all those months ago. “Come with me. I want to talk to you about Aqu-” she paused, noticing Max only called Aquaria by his real name. “Giovanni.”

Before Max could protest, Trixie already starting walking, her heels clicking on the concrete floor. Max followed as soon as he closed his door, jogging a few feet to catch up with her. He didn’t know what Trixie was going to say, but he hoped it was an update that Giovanni was fine and that everything would be okay.

“So,” Trixie began when they were at the end of the hallway and back at the front of the temple in the hallway of pillars. “How are you feeling?”

“Do you want me to be honest?”

Trixie nodded. Even if he lied, she would have known the truth just looking at him; it was a perk that came with being a goddess, but she knew he needed to acknowledge it.

“I feel like shit.”

Trixie nodded again understandingly. “I had a feeling you would.”

“I, I promised I wouldn’t let him get hurt.”

“I know.”

“He was literally crying to me, Trixie. He was so scared of her this morning, and… and he goes back to her like it’s nothing.”

“I know.”

Max raised an eyebrow at Trixie then. “What do you mean you know?”

Trixie smirked confidently. “I know everyone that has ever been loved in the history of humanity. I can’t tell you how it ends, ‘cause that’s not up to me.” She paused, letting her last sentence seep into Max’s ears. “But I can usually tell you what types of relationships people have. And I know you don’t see it now,” Trixie continued, “but what you and Giovanni have is special.”

Max sighed, moving to sit on the steps at the front of the temple. “What makes you say that?”

Trixie cackled then. “God, you’re stupid.” she mumbled, causing Max to look at her in surprise. “Didn’t I just say I know everyone that loves each other?”

When Trixie sat down next to her and stretched her legs over the stairs, Max answered her rhetorical question: “You did, but I don’t love him.”

“Not yet.” Trixie replied nonchalantly. “But I know if you two met under any other circumstances you’d be saying you’re in love with him. And he’d probably say the same thing.

“Look, I probably sound ridiculous-”

“You do.” Max whipped back.

Trixie glared at him for a moment. “I haven’t been a goddess long, but there aren’t that many relationships meant to last forever. People pray to the things they believe in for a long, long time. They want to find love, or keep the love they have, or make sure their partners don’t cheat on them. They spend so much of their lives trying to force love onto other people, but it never comes if we force it.” She cleared her throat, trying not to let her emotions get in the way but she couldn’t help it. “I had to learn that the hard way.”

Max looked at her then. “Wait. You, the goddess of love and marriage. You’re not in love?”

“I was.” Trixie smiled fondly, remembering her best friend. “Fuck, I still am.” She looked away from Max before frowning.

“What happened?”

“I think I pushed her away. She’s been through so much, and I feel like I didn’t listen to her.” her voice cracked, and she was trying hard not to cry but she knew it was coming. It was the first time she had talked about Katya’s disappearance since she’d left, and now with war on the distant horizon, she’d never felt more lonely. “Do you mind if I hug you?”

Before he could nod yes, Max shifted to take the goddess into her arms. For a second he wanted to cry with her, but this was Trixie’s moment to mourn her own loss. “Do you know if your relationship was special?”

The question took Trixie aback. She’d gotten out of the hug to look at Max. “What do you mean?”

“You said you knew every relationship in the world and if it was special or not. Do you know about yours?”

“I never bothered to look.” Trixie laughed softly. “It’s all in these big filing cabinets and it’s kinda stupid. I just assumed it would be. There was a moment...” she paused, gathering her thoughts together. “There was a moment when I was just staring at her and she was like ‘What?’ and without thinking I said, ‘Nothing, I just like you.’ and she thought it was the funniest thing in the world, and I started laughing with her because I loved how she laughed. That was when I knew. And when we talked about it later, she said that’s when she knew too. There were other moments like that later on, but that was the first time.”

Max smiled then. It was nice to know that at least they knew they were the ones for each other. He tried to find those moments with Giovanni, scanning his brain until he remembered earlier that day, when he’d done the flip over Katelyn. His eyes met with Aquaria’s while she was jumping up and down, and suddenly his chest was filled with warmth, and they’d smiled at each other from several feet away. He knew that wasn’t the moment for them, but it was almost cinematic in his memory, and looking back on it, he felt like that was a moment building up to when they would both know.

“But enough about me,” Trixie changed the subject. “This is about you. I talked to Michelle.”

“And Michelle is?”

“She’s one of the Fates. She and I were friends when I did Drag Race but now I call her every day. She was the one who told me Giovanni left.”

“Oh.” Max nodded.

“And she told me to tell you not to worry.”

“She did?” Max asked flatly.

“She said Aquaria would come back, but she gave like a really cryptic message.”

Max waited for her to say it, but she didn’t. “And what was the message?”

“Oh! She said ‘what you see…” she mocked Michelle’s breathy voice when she was clearly impersonating someone else. “‘isn’t always the truth.’ And she made me say it with her.”

“Hm.” was all Max could muster. It had a nice ring to it, so he repeated it in his head:  _ what you see, isn’t always the truth.  _ “Can I ask you a question, Trixie?” 

“Yeah, what’s up?” Trixie asked back.

“Why is it that every goddess I talk to has their own impression of The Fates?”

Trixie screamed in laughter. “You thought that was an impression? Honey, wait until you see my RuPaul.  _ Oh, Honey. _ ”


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gio sighed. He could see it: the woman that looks like Aquaria, dressed in black with a sword made of gold, pointing a sword at Cracker’s chest. Behind her, Sharon was also in black, cheering her on with all her heart, yelling “Kill the bitch!” and letting it echo across the temple. Miz Cracker could probably feel the pressure of the tip of the sword, aiming at her heart, and she’d tell her just to do it already. That’s when Gio blinked his eyes, hearing Vixen call him back to reality.
> 
> “Aquaria? You there?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> IT'S BEEN A MONTH HEY HI HELLOW HOW HAVE YOU ALL BEEN
> 
> so first things first, i changed my username on tumblr! it's now lilbitchaquaria :) Yell at me there!
> 
> second, i am so sorry for the delay on this! you all deserve better from me I know.
> 
> and last, I really hope I finish this work soon bc I have so many more ideas to work on and I'm really excited!

It was 3 A.M. when The Vixen woke up again. Her eyes shot open and stared at the ceiling above her, barely registering she was awake until she heard sobbing in the back of her mind, a dull lullaby she couldn’t recognize. It wasn’t the first time she’d woken up to the sound of someone crying, but it was the first time the voice sounded familiar. She closed her eyes again, trying to visualize in the darkness behind her eyes.

Bob told her when she was first chosen as a goddess that every descendant had their own gifts and talents, and over time she’d see them. Jasmine could tell someone was lying before they could finish a sentence. Trixie could write a song about any couple in her filing cabinets, and Miss Fame could talk to animals, keeping conversation with dogs and chickens more than others. Violet could morph into anyone’s fantasy at the drop of a hat. Even Chad could appear as any artist that spoke to outsiders. They all tried to probe her at one point, wanting to see if she had any talents at all, but The Vixen never shared. People don’t like when you tell them you can hear their thoughts.

It started when she had an argument with Shea, the descendant of Ares before her. They were talking about a technique with fighting, and they completely disagreed on how to launch into it. When Vixen thought  _ I wish I could read her mind _ as a half-genuine wish, suddenly she heard Shea’s voice as an echo:  _ How do I teach this in a way she can understand? _ The Vixen had jumped up excitedly, running to hug Shea who was more confused than Vixen had ever remembered her being. Since then, she used her talent to tune into everyone. From people in line in front of her that were being particularly grumpy to other goddesses that were giving each other attitude, she listened carefully. There was something about hearing the inner narratives of others that gave Vixen life. Some people portrayed themselves as victims; others were the heroes that saved them. And some were completely the kind to sit idly by while others took charge. Those were the few people she didn’t like. 

She didn’t run into them often, save for Thorgy and Betty the day before. After trying her best to hear them out, their arguments went in circles and they excused everything bad Sharon had done. The dislike of them led her to dislike Aquaria on sight. She knew Sharon had adopted a son, and she’d heard of Aquaria, the high-fashion queen. But she never gave the girl a chance until she heard Aquaria ran away from Sharon to protect Miz Cracker without knowing her importance. She’d listened to her thoughts from the moment she’d arrived at the temple, listening for any hint that she was exactly who she thought she was. But to her surprise, Aquaria was one of the most honest people there. She was cold on the outside and kept a calm exterior, but her thoughts fluttered with excitement over everyone she was meeting. During her training, The Vixen heard her ask several questions about fighting. And when she, Cracker, Monet and Katelyn were locked away, Vixen heard Aquaria fight with herself the entire time and could practically feel her tears when she decided to leave them. The Vixen did her best in the conversation with Sharon and afterwards to protect Aquaria, even checking in on her during her show to see if she was alright, but she hadn’t heard anything that would cause concern. In fact, for the most part she didn’t hear anything from her. 

When she listened to the voice again, now cursing themselves for being so stupid, Vixen’s heart broke when she realized it was Aquaria. Before she could ask what was wrong, she threw her blankets off of her, got up to grab a shirt and teleported to wherever she was, not caring that she wasn’t in drag.

He was back in the underworld he’d visited earlier, but in a room that he hadn’t seen before. There were three glass coffins, all the same size, lined up in the middle of the room and set on dark stone that matched the walls. Where the fourth one would have been, Aquaria was there, out of drag and curled in the fetal position, surrounded by broken glass. Instead of seeing a confident, polished goddess, Vixen saw the boy beneath her, in a red turtleneck and black pants, vulnerable and afraid. His back was turned to him as he laid there, surrounded by broken glass. He put one of his arms in front of him to lift his torso before twisting his legs to sit on the stone, careful not to land on any glass. 

“What the fuck?” Gio whispered, looking at the floor.

“Uh… Aquaria?” 

Gio whipped his head around to find The Vixen also out of drag, standing hesitantly by the wall. Without caution, he jumped off of the stone and ran to him, pieces of glass that once rested on him falling on the floor and crunching under his boots. He pulled Vixen into a hug when they got closer, not caring that The Vixen didn’t like her. He was crying again, thankful he saw someone he knew.

“You have no idea how happy I am to see you.” Gio sobbed into the other man’s shirt.

Without saying anything, The Vixen wrapped his arms around Gio and kept his eyes on the broken glass. He knew the only person that could break something that strongly was a goddess in pain, but he couldn’t believe it. Aquaria couldn’t have gotten her full strength yet.

“What happened?” Vixen asked.

“I…” Gio paused to pull himself away. “I really don’t know. Sharon and I got into a fight and she left me here and the next thing I know there’s broken glass everywhere.”

“What did you get into the fight about?”

“She said she knew I knew Cracker. I tried to deny it but she wouldn’t believe me, so I told her that I told her to run.”

“And then what happened?”

Gio went silent. “She said I was stupid and selfish, and that if it were up to her I’d be in the lake.” He motioned to the door, where the pool of the dead was right outside.

“So she’s keeping you alive?”

Gio nodded.

“I wonder why.” The Vixen looked off.

“Do you think she has a double of me?” Gio asked.

“She doesn’t need you alive for a double.”

“She doesn’t?”

“Nope.” The Vixen took a moment to think, then sighed when he realized. “She wants you to see her suffer in person.”

“Wait, what?”

“This is a sleeping chamber.” The Vixen noted.

Giovanni squinted his eyes, not knowing what The Vixen was talking about. “Yes, but what does that have to do with anything?”

“She was keeping you asleep until she was ready to fight. When she killed Cracker, she wanted you there.”

Gio’s eyes widened at the thought. “But she’s not training me to fight.”

“That doesn’t mean she didn’t want you to see it.”

Gio sighed. He  _ could _ see it: the woman that looks like Aquaria, dressed in black with a sword made of gold, pointing a sword at Cracker’s chest. Behind her, Sharon was also in black, cheering her on with all her heart, yelling “Kill the bitch!” and letting it echo across the temple. Miz Cracker could probably feel the pressure of the tip of the sword, aiming at her heart, and she’d tell her just to do it already. That’s when Gio blinked his eyes, hearing Vixen call him back to reality.

“Aquaria? You there?”

“Yeah, I am.” He shook off the vision and stared into Vixen’s eyes, dark like his. “And you can call me Gio.”

“Okay, Gio.” Vixen smiled then. “My name is Anthony out of drag by the way.”

Gio smiled. “How’d you know I…” He was going to ask how he knew he was calling him Vixen before he saw Anthony press a finger to his temple, replicating an image he’d seen on Twitter before.

“Are… are you making a meme reference?”

Anthony nodded, making the other man laugh.  “You know how I said I didn’t like you yesterday?” He asked. “I changed my mind, congratulations.”

Giovanni grinned, showing his smile lines. For all the sadness he’d had that day, it was good to smile again. He couldn’t find the words to say thank you.

“Well now that that’s said and done, we gotta get you out of here.”

“Wait why?” Gio asked.

“How are you going to defeat Sharon just sitting here?”

Without a word of protest, The Vixen took Aquaria out of the underworld and into a field where Shea had trained her years before. She had to keep Aquaria a secret, the way she had been trained, in order for her plan to work.


End file.
